Tea brews up a safety problem
By Liang Yiwen |
January 11, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TEA ranked low for safety in 2011, with fewer than 78 percent of tea products passing tests for pesticide residue, the Shanghai Food Safety Office said yesterday.
They joined cooked food and packaged meals at the bottom of the city's food safety list, local political advisers were told yesterday.
Food safety improved overall, according to a white paper issued by the office, with more than 94 percent food passing safety inspections, about 2 percentage points higher than in 2010.
However, only 64 percent of cooked food passed inspections, the worst in the ranking.
The food which failed was found to contain excessive amounts of coliform bacteria or toxic nitrite, which can be the cause of blood poisoning and cancer.
Bacteria colony problems affected meal boxes too, with only 72 percent of products passing the tests.
Shanghai closed 7,147 food firms and caught 180 suspects for endangering food last year, the office said.
The watchdog examined about 90 different kinds of food and tested nearly 8,600 samples last year.
Rice, plant oil, food for infants and some other foods earned 100 percent pass rates. About 93 percent of bottled or barrel water passed safety tests.
Food safety is one of the key issues concerning political advisers, with swill oil, toxic mildew and other food scandals common around the country.
Shanghai lacks effective methods to detect swill oil and some other chemicals which pose potential dangers to people's health, the meeting heard. Wen Xinchu, a life sciences professor at Shanghai University, urged the city to refer to local scientific research teams to develop innovative methods to hasten and improve food inspections.
"It's hard to detect some new additives and chemicals in the food with traditional methods," he said. "Faced with ever-changing food problems, the food-safety inspection tools and means should also make improvements."
Hu Zhongze, another political adviser, called on the watchdog to publish inspection results quickly.
Shanghai began to grade restaurants with smiley or sad faces in 2009. But many small restaurants were not included in the evaluation. Hu advised their inclusion.
The city has 30,000 restaurants most of them are small, he said.
They joined cooked food and packaged meals at the bottom of the city's food safety list, local political advisers were told yesterday.
Food safety improved overall, according to a white paper issued by the office, with more than 94 percent food passing safety inspections, about 2 percentage points higher than in 2010.
However, only 64 percent of cooked food passed inspections, the worst in the ranking.
The food which failed was found to contain excessive amounts of coliform bacteria or toxic nitrite, which can be the cause of blood poisoning and cancer.
Bacteria colony problems affected meal boxes too, with only 72 percent of products passing the tests.
Shanghai closed 7,147 food firms and caught 180 suspects for endangering food last year, the office said.
The watchdog examined about 90 different kinds of food and tested nearly 8,600 samples last year.
Rice, plant oil, food for infants and some other foods earned 100 percent pass rates. About 93 percent of bottled or barrel water passed safety tests.
Food safety is one of the key issues concerning political advisers, with swill oil, toxic mildew and other food scandals common around the country.
Shanghai lacks effective methods to detect swill oil and some other chemicals which pose potential dangers to people's health, the meeting heard. Wen Xinchu, a life sciences professor at Shanghai University, urged the city to refer to local scientific research teams to develop innovative methods to hasten and improve food inspections.
"It's hard to detect some new additives and chemicals in the food with traditional methods," he said. "Faced with ever-changing food problems, the food-safety inspection tools and means should also make improvements."
Hu Zhongze, another political adviser, called on the watchdog to publish inspection results quickly.
Shanghai began to grade restaurants with smiley or sad faces in 2009. But many small restaurants were not included in the evaluation. Hu advised their inclusion.
The city has 30,000 restaurants most of them are small, he said.
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