Bottled water firm in row over standards
Source: Xinhua |
April 13, 2013, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A POPULAR bottled water producer in east China has been accused of following quality criteria that fall short of national standards set for tap water.
Ma Jinya, secretary-general of the China National Health Association Drinking Water Committee, was quoted in yesterday's Beijing Times as saying that the criteria Nongfu Spring uses were looser than national tap water standards in the amount of arsenic and cadmium allowed.
Nongfu Spring uses criteria set by the government of east China's Zhejiang Province in 2005, the newspaper reported. National standards were upgraded in 2007, but the company have yet to update its own quality benchmarks.
However, the Zhejiang-based company insisted its quality standards were higher than the national standards, and blamed a rival company for setting the controversy in motion.
"We have reason to believe that recent reports targeting Nongfu Spring were created by C'estbon Food & Beverage (Shenzhen) Co Ltd," the company said.
C'estbon Food & Beverage hit back, saying it had never taken any malicious action against the company.
Analysts say the country has "too many" rather than "too few" criteria concerning food safety.
China has formulated nearly 5,000 compulsory food safety criteria due to its excessive number of government departments, according to Wang Guojun, a member of the China Food Industry Association's Committee of Experts.
Ma Jinya, secretary-general of the China National Health Association Drinking Water Committee, was quoted in yesterday's Beijing Times as saying that the criteria Nongfu Spring uses were looser than national tap water standards in the amount of arsenic and cadmium allowed.
Nongfu Spring uses criteria set by the government of east China's Zhejiang Province in 2005, the newspaper reported. National standards were upgraded in 2007, but the company have yet to update its own quality benchmarks.
However, the Zhejiang-based company insisted its quality standards were higher than the national standards, and blamed a rival company for setting the controversy in motion.
"We have reason to believe that recent reports targeting Nongfu Spring were created by C'estbon Food & Beverage (Shenzhen) Co Ltd," the company said.
C'estbon Food & Beverage hit back, saying it had never taken any malicious action against the company.
Analysts say the country has "too many" rather than "too few" criteria concerning food safety.
China has formulated nearly 5,000 compulsory food safety criteria due to its excessive number of government departments, according to Wang Guojun, a member of the China Food Industry Association's Committee of Experts.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
