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Food safety offenders may be locked up
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The draft revision to China's Food Safety Law, tabled for its second reading on Monday, roughens up penalties on offenders by imposing detention.
Offenders who add inedible substances in foods will be put under detention from five days to 15 days, according to the bill, submitted to the bi-monthly legislative session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.
Administrative detention normally refers to the maximum 15-day detention imposed by police without court proceeding.
This is considered a tough penalty since the punishments in the Food Safety Law are largely fining and revoking certificates.
If the offence is even more serious, the suspects will be subject to the Criminal Law. But lawmakers at the first reading in August had argued that the current law does not have very clear regulations on what kind of offenses should be considered breaking the criminal law.
The new edition of the bill also adds a provision to punish producers for adding expired raw material and food additives in their products.
According to the bill, the fine on producers will be ten to 20 times of the products' values if they are worth more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,631). If they are worth less than 10,000 yuan, the fine will be 50,000 to 100,000 yuan. The production certificate will be revoked if the offense is serious.
The provision has echoed a shocking food scandal in July. Shanghai Husi Food Co. Ltd, a supplier to leading fast food brands including McDonald's and KFC, was exposed using reprocessed expired meat in their products. Six of the company's senior executives were arrested.
Monday's edition of the bill also forces landlords of production sites to share joint liabilities with producers if they know that illegal activities are being undertaken on their property.
However, it exempts distributors from punishment if they have evidence to support that they follow legal procedures and are kept in dark about the offenses of suppliers.
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