Talking about the current situation and countermeasures of food safety in China

Ou Yonghui, a law undergraduate in the spring of p>2111

Abstract: With the continuous progress of economy and society, the deepening development of economic globalization, the increasing diversification of people's food culture, and the continuous improvement and strengthening of people's awareness of defending life and health rights, food safety has become a hot topic of great concern. Re-examining food safety has risen to the height of national public security.

Keywords: current situation of food safety and scientific supervision

First, the current situation of food safety in China

In recent years, food safety incidents have occurred one after another. Some well-known enterprises have been exposed to food safety scandals. Jinhua ham containing dichlorvos has an impact on the gastrointestinal mucosa and may be fatal; The use of melamine, a banned substance in inferior milk powder in Fuyang, has led to malnutrition and low immunity in infants, and a series of irreparable serious consequences have appeared. In 2115, Nestle milk powder with excessive iodine affected thyroid function; In 2116, people ate pork containing clenbuterol, which caused dizziness, nausea, trembling hands and feet, and even coma and death due to cardiac arrest; In 2111, the "Egg and Milk Project" incident in compulsory education in Xunyang County, the collective food poisoning incident in Huanggang Experimental School in Ankang, Shaanxi Province, and so on, the safety problems in all aspects of food raw material production, food processing, food circulation and catering services are no longer unfamiliar to consumers. According to statistics, in 2111, public security organs at all levels, together with various regulatory departments, cracked more than 5,211 food safety crimes and arrested more than 7,111 people involved. Procuratorial organs at all levels arrested 1,811 suspects of food safety violations and prosecuted 1,254 people; People's courts at all levels have concluded 333 cases of producing toxic and harmful food, and 421 people have made effective judgments.

With the promulgation of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, food safety is divided into four supervision links from all aspects of food safety risks: first, the agricultural department is responsible for the production of agricultural and sideline products to ensure that there are no problems at the source; Second, the quality inspection department is responsible for food production without problems; Third, the industrial and commercial department is responsible for food circulation without problems; Fourth, the food and drug supervision and administration department is responsible for food safety in catering services. The Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China has a clear division of labor and clear responsibilities, and the whole process of supervision is carried out from the source of food safety to the public dining table.

in order to avoid the phenomenon of buck passing in the process of supervision by various functional departments, "food safety committees" have been set up at all levels from the central government to the local government to take charge of the comprehensive coordination of food safety. The food safety comprehensive law enforcement brigade first established in Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, and the management mode of "four-stage" whole-course supervision of food safety implemented by one department may also be widely promoted and implemented throughout the country. Although the national food safety authorities and think tanks have tried their best to supervise food safety, and the supervision departments at all levels have not worked hard, it is puzzling that in recent years, inferior foods are still emerging one after another, just as the food containing melamine is constantly exposed, and some food raw materials have been seriously polluted in the process of growing in farmers' fields, and so on. These problems seriously threaten people's lives and health, and food safety closely related to the people makes consumers worry. People don't know what to eat and what not to eat.

second, the characteristics of China's food safety problems

food safety problems emerge in an endless stream and are repeatedly banned. from the analysis of some typical cases that appear at present, there are the following four characteristics:

first, the scope of problem food is getting wider and wider. The diversification of problem foods has expanded from traditional staple foods such as grain, oil, meat, poultry, eggs, vegetables, bean products and aquatic products to fruits, alcohol, dairy products, food and so on, and problems have arisen in all aspects of food raw material production, food processing, food circulation and catering services.

Second, the harm degree of problem food is getting deeper and deeper, which has changed from the health hazard outside food to the safety hazard inside food. In the past, we only paid attention to the total number of bacteria in food, but now it is the residues of pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals that go deep into food.

Third, in order to maximize profits and earn black-hearted money, the means of adding prohibited substances and non-use substances in food are more and more diverse, more and more "in-depth" and more and more hidden, from the outside of food to the inside, from the physical to the chemical. Judging from the toxic and harmful foods exposed, criminals' methods of making drugs and making fakes are innovative and concealed, and the general monitoring methods are difficult to find.

Fourth, the trend of making and selling fake products is large-scale and chain-like. The sources of prohibited substances are very hidden, and the chain of making and selling fake products is getting longer and longer.

III. Reasons for many food safety problems

1. The main reason for frequent food safety incidents is that the relevant departments have failed to supervise the operation of food safety production. There is a lack of source supervision on the breeding of agricultural and sideline products, no in-depth inspection of pesticides and fertilizers in the fields, and no in-depth inspection of animal breeding feed, which makes food raw materials originally polluted; Inadequate supervision of production links, lack of strict access control, low entry threshold, lack of full supervision in the production process, and some products go through the motions in ex-factory inspection; There are a large number of catering services and lack of supervision on key parts. These problems make the food industry in China seriously violate the rules and illegally produce, sell and operate unqualified food. China's food supervision has always adopted the method of subsection management, supplemented by variety management. In the actual operation process, various functional departments will either compete for supervision and repeat law enforcement, or they will compete for no matter what they do, which provides an opportunity for some food industries to illegally produce and sell unqualified food.

2. There are many drawbacks and problems in China's food safety legal system, which provide a living space for the emergence of many problem foods. China's food safety laws and regulations are too general, and the operability is not comprehensive, and some are even difficult to operate. For example, the provisions concerning legal liability in the Food Safety Law have a higher starting point in terms of punishment for minor violations by some small enterprises, and are not very flexible to operate in some economically backward places. There are also some unclear management measures issued by the corresponding functional departments, and some relevant legal documents are not very compatible. For example, in the supervision of catering services, if it is necessary to seal up and detain the business premises without a Catering Service License, whether it is possible to put a seal on the door and whether it is possible to use the "Decision on Sealing and Seizure" is not clearly stipulated in the relevant laws. In the Administrative Punishment Law, there is no clear stipulation on the amount of a large fine, and there is no clear definition in the laws and regulations of functional departments. Therefore, in the process of law enforcement, it is easy to see the phenomenon of illegal law enforcement and inadequate law enforcement. In addition, some existing food safety standards are low, many indicators are far below international standards, and many important standards have not yet been formulated, which provides an opportunity for those illegal manufacturers and enterprises to illegally produce ultra-low and substandard foods. The supervision department has backward supervision means and lacks the most basic monitoring equipment. The supervision method is relatively rough and the coverage of the monitoring system is narrow. There are even no monitoring institutions and testing equipment below the county level. For example, in the supervision of catering services, it is impossible to identify whether some ingredients of food exceed the standard.

3. The supervision power and law enforcement equipment of the supervision department are not in place. After the implementation of "Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China", all functional departments have their own functions and managed by sections. Although the agricultural department has set up an agricultural law enforcement brigade, it is only a formality in the monitoring of agricultural products, because of the lack of professional monitoring personnel, the monitoring volume is too large and the staffing is not in place. The quality inspection department has a heavy workload and a serious shortage of personnel. Some county-level quality inspection bureaus have only one full-time person engaged in food safety management, not to mention the testing system. Especially, the food and drug supervision and management departments are even more difficult to carry out their work. Since the implementation of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, the catering supervision functions originally implemented by the health department have been adjusted to the food and drug supervision and management departments, most of them have not been equipped with full-time food safety management personnel, but their functions have been adjusted without increasing the corresponding institutions and staffing, and they have not been equipped with the most basic food poisoning monitoring facilities and equipment, even law enforcement equipment and vehicles. Take the Food and Drug Administration of Xunyang County as an example. According to the requirements, it should be equipped with 21 people to engage in the daily supervision of food safety. In reality, there are only 6 people, and they are also engaged in the daily supervision of drugs. There is no basic food poisoning detection equipment and no law enforcement vehicle. These practical problems directly affect the supervision quality of daily supervision, the level of law enforcement can not keep pace with the times, the supervision of law enforcement can not be fully in place, and even there are blank areas of supervision within the jurisdiction.

4. Consumers' lack of common sense in food safety may also cause food safety problems. First of all, consumers lack common sense to buy safe food. Because of the low income level, insufficient consumption power and lack of corresponding common sense, many consumers in our country are indifferent to safety awareness when buying food, and often only try to be cheap, regardless of the quality and safety of food. There are also some consumers who always take chances when buying cheap food, special food and food without quality guarantee, thinking that everyone is buying, and that others have not eaten any problems after eating these cheap foods for many years, and they will be fine if they eat them again now. With the support of consumers' psychology, they have opened the way for the sale of problem foods. Secondly, many consumers lack the common sense of eating food scientifically, which may lead to some diseases and even food poisoning.

5. Food safety publicity is not in place and social participation is not broad enough. With the continuous development of society, the people's demand for food is gradually diversified. Reasonable diet and healthy diet have become a hot topic in people's streets. But little is known about how to eat and drink. At present, there may be less publicity on food safety, and most of the publicity of various functional departments is in the form, and there is no normalized long-term planning.

iv. countermeasures to strengthen food safety supervision

1. organically combine solving key and difficult problems of food safety with building a long-term mechanism for food safety guarantee. Food safety is a major livelihood issue, which is related to people's health and life safety and social harmony and stability. Building a well-off society in an all-round way is not only reflected in economic indicators and happiness indexes, but more importantly, in people's life, health and safety environment. On June 23rd this year, the State Council issued the Decision of the State Council on Strengthening Food Safety, which clearly stated that centralized management and rectification should be institutionalized and long-term, and it should be an important task of food safety in the future, and it should be carried out unswervingly and unremittingly. Through unremitting efforts, in about three years, the food safety rectification has achieved remarkable results, illegal and criminal acts have been effectively curbed, and outstanding problems have been effectively solved; In about five years, China's food safety supervision system and mechanism, laws and regulations, standards and inspection and testing system will be more scientific and perfect, the management level and integrity awareness of producers and operators will be further enhanced, the work pattern with extensive participation of all sectors of society will basically take shape, and the overall level of food safety will be greatly improved.

most provincial and municipal governments have also put forward implementation opinions on carrying out special rectification work on food safety, hoping that the state will have an overall long-term guidance on the development of food industry and food safety. Establish a food safety responsibility system and hold the responsibility in place. The food safety responsibility system is an integral part of the post responsibility system, the most basic safety system and the harmony of the food safety management system. Only by clearly defining the division of labor, carrying out their duties, guarding the soil and responsibilities, and coordinating and unifying the food safety work from the organization and leadership, can the safety management of all staff, all directions and the whole process be realized and food safety be ensured.

2. Strengthen the supervision of the source of food raw materials to effectively prevent the pollution of agricultural products. Adhere to the general requirements of "combining unified coordination with division of responsibilities, combining centralized management and rectification with strict daily supervision, strengthening government supervision with the implementation of corporate responsibility, and combining law enforcement supervision with social supervision". Advocate large-scale planting, determine the macro plan of planting and breeding structure according to local characteristics, organically organize the production of advantageous agricultural products in various regions, and give appropriate policy concessions and public opinion-oriented support. Vigorously improve agricultural technology extension institutions, guide agricultural producers to plant and breed scientifically, and continue to promote the national "pollution-free food action plan". Supervise the whole process, from plant fertilizer and animal feed to factory sale inspection, implement comprehensive monitoring, and establish a unified and standardized quality and safety standard system for agricultural products.

3. Strengthen the management of food production enterprises. It is the cornerstone of food safety to implement the main responsibility of food producers and operators. Food producers and operators are the first responsible persons for food safety. Every food producer and operator is law-abiding, honest and self-disciplined, and food safety has a foundation. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen supervision and law enforcement, but also strictly implement the main responsibility of producers and operators, so that enterprises should be honest and the industry should be self-disciplined. Food production is the key link of food safety supervision, and most food safety incidents occur in food production. Optimize product structure, encourage the production of famous and famous products, support large-scale and intensive food enterprise groups, strictly control enterprise access, strengthen whole-process quality management, implement quantitative grading management, and implement quality systematic management, and take this as a "one-vote veto system" for market safety access, resolutely ban processing enterprises that do not have food safety production conditions, and make food processing small.

4. Strengthen supervision and punishment in the field of food circulation. Expand supervision, especially strengthen food safety supervision of food wholesale enterprises, small shops, small food stores and mobile vendors. Food safety is an important matter related to the national economy and people's livelihood. The government should organize it in a unified way, fully implement the market inspection system, strictly implement the delisting system for unqualified food, strengthen the management of food safety labeling and packaging, strictly control the production and use of food additives, organize the research and production of high-efficiency and low-toxicity food additives, and resolutely plug the regulatory loopholes in the field of food circulation.

5. Strengthen the supervision of catering services. Vigorously expand the development of catering service tertiary industry, strict access, effective supervision. In particular, we must seize the supervision of high-risk units such as school canteens to ensure that there are no food safety mass incidents. Strengthen the daily supervision of small and medium-sized catering units, vigorously promote quantitative and hierarchical management of food safety, and guide consumers to consume safely. Improve the emergency system of food safety accidents, effectively prevent the occurrence of food safety accidents, and scientifically respond to food safety accidents.

6. Severely punish food safety violations. Adhere to severe punishment and chaos control, and always maintain the trend of cracking down on high pressure, so that severe punishment becomes the normal state of food safety governance. Relevant departments must fully understand the harmfulness of illegal food safety activities and the strong wishes of the people, and adhere to the word "strict" for all kinds of illegal and criminal acts, and fight them without mercy. Further strengthen the connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, transfer suspected criminal cases in time, and actively cooperate with judicial organs to investigate and collect evidence. It is strictly forbidden to punish and release them, and to ensure that the criminal responsibility of criminals is investigated in place. It is necessary to severely punish the illegal and criminal acts of food safety.