Session shows food safety still high among concerns

Food safety is undoubtedly one of the major issues that still fall short of people's ever-growing expectations for a better life. This explains why so many proposals have been put forward at the annual session of the National People's Congress this year, ranging from how to better supervise the mushrooming online food-delivery platforms to calls for perfecting the food tracking system.

It is an issue that the government is acutely aware of. Just last month, the central authorities released a set of rules aimed at improving the accountability of local officials in this regard, making their performance on food safety a major criterion in the official assessment of their governance capabilities. And at a news conference during the current session of the top legislature on Monday, Zhang Mao, head of the State Administration for Market Regulation, vowed to slap "the strictest punishment" on violators.

But in a vast country with millions of food factories and workshops, getting the market orderly is no easy task, and it is one made even more difficult given the shortage of law enforcement personnel and lack of knowledge about food hygiene among the public.