Recently, there have been many food safety incidents, such as lean meat sausage, dyed steamed bread and sulfur ginger, which greatly reduced people's trust in food safety. Everyone can't help but ask, why do food have frequent safety hazards? Under the supervision of many departments for many years, why are problems still emerging? How can we effectively eliminate the hidden dangers of food safety, so that everyone can really eat comfortably? Our reporter interviewed Zhang Yong, director of the Office of the Food Safety Committee of the State Council, on some hot issues.

1 "The overall stability is improving, but there are still many problems"

□ Compared with the requirements of the central government, the expectations of the masses and the level of developed countries, there is still a gap in China's food safety situation and level

□ The producers and operators are small in scale, large in number and highly dispersed, which brings great difficulties to food production quality and safety management and food safety supervision

Reporter: What is the overall situation of food safety in China at present? What are the gaps compared with developed countries?

Zhang Yong: At present, the food safety situation in China can be summarized as "overall stability is improving, but there are still many problems". On the one hand, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to food safety, and governments at all levels have continuously strengthened food safety in recent years. Especially since 2119, from the deployment of "two-year rectification" to the introduction of food safety law, and then to the establishment of the Food Safety Committee of the State Council, the work has continued to increase and achieved remarkable results. A number of typical cases were investigated and dealt with, which eliminated a large number of potential risks, curbed the momentum of high incidence of major food safety incidents, and the food safety situation was generally stable and maintained a good trend, without major systemic risks.

On the other hand, we should be soberly aware that compared with the requirements of the central authorities, the expectations of the masses and the level of developed countries, there is still a gap in China's food safety situation and level. There are still weak links in food safety supervision system and mechanism, laws and regulations, risk monitoring, talent team, technical equipment, enterprise investment and management ability, and various food safety incidents still occur from time to time. These are also the key issues that we are trying to improve and solve.

a country's food safety level is closely related to its economic and social development. China is still a developing country with a large population and a large food production and consumption country, but the scale, organization and standardization of the food industry and the perfection of the industry integrity and moral system are still low. The food industry is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises, with a huge number of small workshops, vendors and restaurants. The cultivation and breeding links are also small and scattered.

Take pig breeding as an example. There are only 71,111 pig farmers in the United States, while there are more than 67 million in China. In the United States, 96.6% of the pigs are slaughtered by farmers with a breeding scale of more than 511, while in China, only 31.5% of the pigs are slaughtered by farmers with a breeding scale of more than 511. The market share of four large meat enterprises in the United States is over 91%, and the share of the top 11 enterprises in China is less than 11%. The small scale, large number and high dispersion of producers and operators have brought great difficulties to food production quality and safety management and food safety supervision.

2 The "ignition point" of food safety incidents is low

□ Some problems exist objectively; Others are exaggerated or unfounded, such as reports on Shengyuan milk powder, leather milk, beef paste and other issues, which are exaggerated or untrue after final verification

□ Although the proportion of unqualified foods detected is low, the absolute amount is not small. Even if there is only 1% of the problem, we have to make 111% efforts. < P > Reporter: According to the information released by the relevant departments, the qualified rates of vegetables, livestock products and aquatic products in China in 2111 were all over 96%, but the people lamented, "What can I eat?" Why is there such a gap between the actual situation and everyone's feelings?

Zhang Yong: First of all, there are indeed many problems in the field of food safety, which are also reported and reflected by the news media and the Internet. Generally speaking, these reports can be divided into two categories, some of which objectively reflect the existing problems, such as lean meat, dyed steamed bread, etc. Others are exaggerated or have no factual basis, such as reports on Shengyuan milk powder, leather milk, beef paste and other issues, which are finally exaggerated or untrue after verification. Such reports are concentrated in a short period of time, which is easy to produce amplification effect. After reading them, the masses often believe it, are anxious and worried, and naturally have the idea of "what else can I eat?"

Food safety is directly related to people's health, and everyone cares about it. The "ignition point" is very low. People see all kinds of information, true or false, and it is understandable that they are worried about food safety. However, it should be noted that China's current food safety is generally guaranteed, which is by no means to cover up contradictions and whitewash peace. More than 1.3 billion people in China consume 2 million tons of food such as grain, vegetables and meat every day. There are more than 411,111 food production enterprises, 3.23 million food business entities, 2 million catering units and more than 211 million farmers, herdsmen and fishermen. Although food safety incidents occur from time to time, compared with such a huge scale of food producers and operators, the proportion is very small, and the food safety situation is generally stable. It is not accurate and objective to string together some point and individual problems and say that they are holistic and universal.

In fact, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other international organizations all spoke highly of China's achievements in food safety. The average life expectancy of Chinese people is getting higher and higher, which has exceeded 73 years, ranking the forefront of developing countries, and even reaching the level of developed countries in some areas, which is also due to the continuous improvement of food security and safety level in China to a considerable extent. Because if the food safety situation is poor and a wide range of food-borne diseases occur frequently, it is difficult to achieve this achievement.

96% of the foods are qualified, but not all of them are qualified. Even if there is only 1% problem, we have to make 111% efforts. Although the proportion of unqualified foods detected is low, the absolute amount is not small. Therefore, there must be no slack in food safety work. At present, while doing a good job in all aspects of food safety supervision, we should further strengthen the propaganda and education of food safety science. On the one hand, we should vigorously improve the ability of the whole society to distinguish between fakes and prevent risks. On the other hand, we should promptly clarify false rumors, eliminate unnecessary doubts, enhance people's confidence and guide the public to scientifically understand the current food safety situation.

3 food safety incidents are harmful

□ endangering people's health; Impact the economy and people's livelihood; Affect the credibility of the government and the national image

□ After the Sanlu incident, the whole industry cut production and stopped production, tens of thousands of employees were laid off, and more than 2.4 million dairy farmers killed cows and poured milk

Reporter: What harm did the food safety incident bring?

Zhang Yong: Food safety incidents are very harmful. Here are three main aspects. The first is also the most serious harm, which is harmful to people's health. Three meals a day is indispensable, and the safety of food is directly related to everyone's health and even life safety. There is something wrong with what you eat in your stomach, and the seriousness of its harm is self-evident.

the second is the impact on the economy and people's livelihood. For example, after the Sanlu incident, the whole industry cut production and stopped production, tens of thousands of workers were laid off, and more than 2.4 million dairy farmers killed cows and poured milk, which affected the employment and income of a large number of urban and rural residents. In 2119, the import of dairy products in China soared from 351,111 tons in 2118 to 597,111 tons. The domestic dairy industry has been badly damaged and has not yet fully recovered. Since then, the price of imported milk powder of a certain brand has increased three times within one year, each time by 11% to 15%, and consumers have also paid a great price for it.

the third is the impact on the government's credibility and national image. Successive food safety incidents have greatly affected people's consumer confidence, seriously impacted the social integrity and moral system, and even affected the credibility of the government. Some food safety incidents also involve overseas countries, which have a negative impact on China's image and foreign trade exports.

4 Food safety incidents are frequent

□ The cost of food safety crimes is not high, and the punishment and deterrence still need to be increased

□ The food safety in developed countries such as the United States has also gone through the process from chaos to governance, and there are many experiences and lessons for reference

Reporter: We may say that we don't pay attention to food safety, but food safety problems are still frequent. What is the crux?

Zhang Yong: The central government attaches great importance to food safety. Last year, the Food Safety Committee of the State Council was established, which was headed by three the State Council leaders as directors and deputy directors, and was composed of responsible comrades from 21 departments, and its offices were set up. Since the establishment of the Food Safety Committee of the State Council, it has held plenary meetings and national teleconferences for many times, organized and coordinated all regions and relevant departments to carry out in-depth centralized rectification, severely investigated and dealt with food safety violations, strengthened the construction of long-term mechanisms, constantly improved the supervision system, plugged regulatory loopholes, and greatly improved the emergency response capability and comprehensive supervision level of food safety. It should be said that at present, China's food safety supervision system is in the stage of accelerating and perfecting.

in the next step, the food safety Committee of the state Council will focus on solving the outstanding problems in the field of food safety and managing the deep-seated contradictions that affect food safety. at the same time, it will further strictly supervise and implement the responsibilities of various regulatory departments and localities, promote the construction of regulatory capacity as a whole, build a whole-process regulatory pattern, and promote the sustained, stable and improved food safety situation in China.

However, we should be soberly aware that it is impossible to solve the food safety problem in one battle, and it needs a long process. The main reasons are as follows:

First, the food industry is developing rapidly, but the situation of low threshold, scattered distribution and small scale is difficult to completely change in a short time, which seriously restricts the improvement of food safety level. With the rapid development of economy, China's food industry has gone the way that other countries have gone for hundreds of years in the past 31 years of reform and opening up. Many problems that others have encountered and solved step by step in a long period of time have gathered and emerged in our place in a short time.

Second, the quality of employees is uneven, the main responsibility of enterprises is not implemented enough, and the construction of industry integrity and moral system lags behind. The market competition in the food industry is extremely fierce, and disorderly competition and malicious competition are common. Many enterprises, especially small workshops, have insufficient safety investment and weak management ability, and a few employees lack morality and integrity. These are the important reasons for the frequent occurrence of food safety incidents.

Third, compared with the rapid development of food industry and the rapid change of food consumption structure, the safety supervision ability failed to keep up in time. Since the reform and opening up, the living standards of urban and rural people in China have been greatly improved, achieving a historic leap from insufficient food and clothing to overall well-off. The total amount and types of food consumption have increased rapidly, and food safety has been paid more and more attention. The construction of food safety policies and regulations, standard system, risk monitoring network, supervision team and technical equipment needs to be strengthened urgently.

Fourth, the cost of food safety crimes is not high, and the punishment deterrence still needs to be increased. This problem has been improved in the Criminal Law Amendment (VIII) just passed. In the past, illegal crimes in the field of food safety were mainly convicted according to the consequences, but now they can be convicted if there is a clear act, thus increasing the crackdown on illegal crimes in food safety.

the above shows that food safety problems are more common at this stage, and there are deep-seated reasons, some of which are inseparable from the current level of economic and social development. Although these problems are complex, they are not without solutions. They can be solved step by step through systematic policies and measures. For more than 1,111 years, food safety in developed countries such as the United States has also experienced a process from chaos to governance, from frequent safety incidents to basic containment. There are many experiences and lessons that can be used for reference and for our use, so as to promote our food safety level to be improved faster.

5 Strengthen supervision and attach importance to media supervision

□ In 2111, it took the initiative to inspect more than 35 million food production and business units, and investigated 131,111 cases of food safety violations

□ It is not approved that individuals will report the food safety problems with the words "carcinogenic", "fatal" and "highly toxic" before the nature, harm and influence scope of the incidents have been ascertained and verified.

Zhang Yong: This statement is not very accurate. What I want to say is that in 2111, regulatory authorities at all levels in China took the initiative to inspect various food production and business units for more than 35 million times, and a large number of inspections aimed at small vendors, workshops and restaurants could not be accurately counted. * * * investigated and dealt with 131,111 cases of food safety violations, and few of them were discovered by the media first. Many cases were investigated and published by the regulatory authorities, and then followed up by the relevant media, such as the recent fake potato powder and the problem milk powder last year. After investigating the "Clenbuterol" incident in Henan Province, due to the large consumption of meat food, a comprehensive and in-depth inspection was organized nationwide in order to prevent risks to the greatest extent. This practice of drawing inferences from others and strengthening systematic risk prevention is a practical measure to continuously strengthen supervision.

At the same time, some problems were discovered and reported by the media, and the regulatory authorities organized the investigation and handling. This fully reflects the importance of media supervision, and the supervision department will further strengthen communication with the news media to continuously improve the supervision efficiency. It should be noted that we don't agree that individuals will report the food safety problems with the words "carcinogenic", "fatal" and "highly toxic" before the nature, harm and influence scope of the incident have been ascertained and verified, or even fabricate false news without factual basis, causing public panic. This irresponsible practice should not be done.

sampling inspection is a common practice adopted by all countries in the world, including developed countries. Because there are too many kinds, huge quantities and complicated formats of food, no country can afford or do it by testing all kinds of food one by one. In fact, sampling inspection has been proved to be a scientific method, and its accuracy, effectiveness and economy are guaranteed. The key is to do it seriously, practically and as required. In the next stage, the regulatory authorities will further improve the sampling system and methods, encrypt the sampling frequency of key varieties, key enterprises and key projects, and establish a factory inspection system for key industries to ensure timely detection of various food safety risks. Of course, it is not excluded to conduct all tests on a certain food in a specific period and region.

6 solving the problem of illegal addition is a "bull's nose"

□ At present, the most prominent problem is the illegal addition of non-edible substances and the abuse of food additives

□ The personnel and enterprises engaged in illegal addition shall be given severe administrative and criminal punishment according to law

Reporter: From the analysis of the current food safety incidents, what is the most prominent food safety problem in China? What are the important measures to solve these problems this year?

Zhang Yong: At present, the most prominent problems are illegal addition of non-edible substances and abuse of food additives. Melamine, clenbuterol and dyed steamed bread are typical cases of illegal addition. Originally, the use of food additives in accordance with the law is conducive to enriching food types, improving food nutrition and ensuring food supply. However, some lawless elements forget about profit, illegally add non-edible substances or even toxic and harmful substances or abuse food additives in food production and operation, which seriously endangers people's health and life safety. In recent years