From Chinese Press

Recycled oil a shame

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-05 08:12

The raid on an oil mill in Changsha, Hunan province, which recycled discarded pork to make cooking oil once again underlines the urgent need to strengthen food security, says an article in the Beijing News. Excerpts:

Before the raid on the mill in Changsha at the end of April, its recycled oil had incredibly passed a set of food safety inspections. It's surprising how inspectors couldn't detect peroxide and heavy metals in the oil from the dirty, stinking mill.

Frequent food safety scandals show that inspection standards are too lenient and vague. Some criteria were set in the last century, when the country was suffering from acute food shortage.

Another factor to blame for the frequent food scandals is the safety authorities' failure to keep a close watch on the food production industry. This has caused the standards to be changed after scandals, instead of being improved beforehand to prevent them.

Besides, unlike other countries, China does not have enough volunteers from universities and NGOs to conduct inspections on food products. The government could, at least, seek people's help in this regard.

(China Daily 05/05/2010 page9)