Scaremongering about food safety constitutes a crime

THE CHINA FOOD AND DRUG Administration said recently that 45 percent of online rumors are related to food safety. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

That food safety directly concerns people's wellbeing explains why rumors about unsafe food and food scandals spread so fast, and can quickly spark public anxiety, even panic.

The internet accelerates the speed with which rumors spread and enables false information to be convincingly packaged as the truth with the use of sensational photos and videos, which are easily manipulated on smartphones nowadays, giving the fabricated information credibility, especially to those lacking media and scientific literacy.