OPINION> Commentary
Lesson from bad eggs
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-31 07:47

The melamine pain has gone deeper than the skin for Chinese food manufacturers and consumers after another test in Hong Kong on Wednesday found a second batch of eggs contaminated by the chemical.

This latest food safety scare has spread quickly to the mainland and caused a slump in egg sales both in wholesale and retail markets. But it has also raised a question about where the chemical comes from and how it sneaks into the production of eggs.

The same question was asked when liquid milk and baby formulas were found to contain this chemical a month ago. We were told that milk collectors were the culprits, who used the chemical to increase the protein count in the milk they collected and diluted with water.

This time, the head of a feed plant is said to have already been detained for further investigation. His plant has provided chicken feed to a farm in Dalian, where the problematic eggs were produced.

The fact that melamine has been found in eggs produced by different chicken farms suggests that the contamination cannot be an accidental case. As is being suggested, the feed industry seems to have acquiesced to agree on using the chemical to reduce production cost while maintaining the protein count for quality inspections.

We cannot say for sure if the same chemical has made its way into other types of food. We hope it has not. But if fodder can be confirmed as the source of contamination for both the eggs and milk, action must be taken to check how widespread the use of this chemical is in the fodder industry.

Food safety watchdogs - the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the State Food and Drug Administration - are expected to take joint action for an overhaul of the food industry.

Irrespective of what action is taken or how long this overhaul lasts, one thing is important for sure. That is transparency - both consumers and food manufacturers need to know who the bad apples are. They also need to have detailed information on how a chemical that should be absolutely banned from being used for food got its way into the food industry.

Thorough investigation and due punishment of bad apples are the most effective - and the only - way to save the affected industry from a complete collapse. And they are also the only approach to regain consumers' confidence.

It takes years for a brand product including food to gain widespread acceptance among consumers, but consumers' confidence can be shattered almost overnight. The sharp drop in sales of dairy products after the milk scandal and of the eggs after the contamination cases is strong evidence.

The lesson should be hard enough for both food manufacturers and food safety watchdogs.

The culprits, whether caught or still at large, should be made to clearly understand that making illegal profits through such gambles can never last long.

For watchdogs, they should never take for granted that manufacturers will play by the book for the sake of their own reputation and their long-term development. There simply is no room for slackening strictness in the inspection of food safety.

(China Daily 10/31/2008 page8)