1. 1 Foreign food safety issues
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
1986 was found in Britain, and the epidemic reached its peak in the 1990s. In July 2000, more than 6,543,800+7,000 cattle in 340,000 pastures in Britain were infected with the disease, and more than 300,000 cattle were slaughtered and burned. In the late 1990s, the epidemic trend declined obviously, but the incidence rate still increased at an annual rate of 23%, and it spread from Britain to Western Europe, Europe and Asia, involving more than 1000 countries. At present, there are about 100 patients, and some scientists speculate that there are about 500 thousand patients in the incubation period. After the onset, they showed progressive dementia, memory loss, ataxia, tremor, insanity and eventually died. 1997, experts predict that the epidemic peak of human diseases will be around 20 15 years, when 200,000 people will die every year. In the worst case,100000 people may eventually die of "Jacques disease", but in 2002, this estimated number dropped to 50000 people [2].
dioxin
During the period of 1999, incidents occurred in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany, resulting in high concentrations of dioxins in livestock and poultry products and dairy products. Dioxin is a toxic chlorine-containing compound, which is the most toxic among the known toxic compounds in the world. It is highly carcinogenic, and it can also cause serious skin diseases and harm the fetus [3].
O- 157 event
Since1June 1996, mass food poisoning incidents occurred in many primary schools in Japan, and it was found that the culprit was boils-157 "Escherichia coli. Since August of that year, there have been more than 9,000 patients in Japan. Seven of them died and hundreds were hospitalized. O- 157 "is a kind of bacteria about two thousandths of a millimeter long and one thousandth of a millimeter wide." O "is the first letter of this bacterium in German. Escherichia coli is divided into 173 species due to different antigen-antibody reactions. "O- 157" was named as 157 species by American scientists in 1982. Patients infected with E.coli "O- 157" are often accompanied by severe abdominal pain, high fever and bloody dysentery. Severe cases will be complicated with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and encephalitis, which is life-threatening. Food poisoning caused by "O- 157" has occurred not only in Japan, but also in the United States, Europe, Australia and Africa in recent years. According to the estimation of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "O- 157" can cause 20,000 people to get sick and 250 to 500 people to die every year in the United States [4].
acrylamide
In April 2002, scientists from Stockholm University in Sweden released a research report, pointing out that many kinds of fried starch foods, including French fries, contain the carcinogen acrylamide. According to this report, the polyacrylamide content of 1 kg potato chips is 1 1,000 micrograms, while that of French fries is 400 micrograms, and that of cakes and biscuits is 280 micrograms. Acrylamide is no stranger to people, and it is used in many materials such as plastics and dyes. Animal experiments have proved that it is carcinogenic, but since 2002, many studies have confirmed that starch-containing foods such as potatoes will naturally produce acrylamide during baking, frying and frying, and gradually start to set off a new food safety storm [5].
1.2 consequences of food safety problems
Economic losses The economic losses caused by food safety incidents are considerable. Since 1986 Britain declared mad cow disease, only one beef export was banned, and it lost 5.2 billion dollars every year. The slaughter action that had to be taken to completely eliminate "mad cow disease" lost $30 billion. Dioxin pollution in Belgium not only led to the ban on the sale and large-scale destruction of animal food in Belgium, but also led to the ban on the import of animal products in all countries of the world. The direct loss caused by this incident reached 355 million euros. If the food industry related to this incident is included, it is estimated that its economic loss will reach 654.38+03 billion euros.
Political Consequences and Trade Disputes The Belgian government suffered a dioxin incident, which led to the global export of European milk, chicken, beef and other foods, leading to the collapse of the cabinet. In 200 1 year, the German Minister of Health and Agriculture resigned due to mad cow disease. The current opposition of European consumers to genetically modified foods largely reflects their distrust of the government. From the international experience and lessons, the occurrence of food safety problems not only causes serious economic losses to the host country, but also affects consumers' trust in the government and even threatens social stability and national security [6].
2 major domestic food safety incidents:
1June 1987 to1February 1988, an outbreak of hepatitis A occurred in Shanghai, and 300,000 citizens were infected with hepatitis A.
1996 2 1 From June 27th to July 27th, a serious food poisoning incident occurred in Huize County, Qujing District, Yunnan Province. 192 people were poisoned, 35 people died and 6 people were disabled.
65438+1From the end of June to the beginning of July, 1997, a poisoning incident occurred in Simao, Yunnan, in which 255 people were poisoned and 73 people died.
1998 in February, several serious cases of fake wine poisoning occurred in Shuozhou, Xinzhou, Datong and other areas of Shanxi Province, with more than 200 people poisoned and 27 people killed.
1999 1 month, 46 students in Guangdong province suffered from food poisoning; In June of the same year, a hospital in a province admitted 34 poisoning incidents, all of which were caused by eating "vegetables" containing methamidophos pesticide residues.
From 200 1 to 1, more than 60 people in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province saw a doctor, with symptoms such as palpitation, rapid heartbeat, shaking hands, dizziness and headache. Because they ate pork containing clenbuterol hydrochloride [7].
In 200 1 year, food poisoning caused by EHEC O 157: H7 broke out in Jiangsu, Anhui and other places, resulting in 177 deaths and more than 20,000 poisoning [8].
On March 19, 2003, some primary school students and teachers in Haicheng, Liaoning Province drank soybean milk and caused food poisoning, involving 2556 primary school students (292 poisoned people). The reason of soybean milk food poisoning is that the anti-nutritional factors such as trypsin inhibitor in active soybean powder are not completely inactivated [9].
2.2 Status of Food Safety in China
First, food-borne diseases are still the most important factor endangering public health [10]. According to the information provided by the Ministry of Health, in 2003, the Ministry of Health received a total of 379 reports of major food poisoning incidents in China, with 323 deaths and 376 poisoning cases. Compared with 2002, the number of reported major food poisoning cases, the number of poisoning cases and the number of deaths increased by 196. 1%, 80.7% and134.1%[1] respectively. However, in China's legal infectious disease reporting system, a large number of food-borne diseases such as enteritis and dysentery, as well as food-borne diseases caused by viruses and parasites are not included. The present situation of foodborne diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms in China shows that food poisoning and disease spread caused by food contamination by intestinal pathogens (Salmonella, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Escherichia coli O 157∶H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, Vibrio cholerae, Shigella dysenteriae, etc.). ) is the main food-borne hazard that directly causes human health damage [12]. At present, China has not yet established a sound food-borne disease reporting system. According to the estimation of the World Health Organization, the underreporting rate of food-borne diseases in developing countries is above 95% [8]. Therefore, food-borne diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms are still a serious threat to our health.
Second, the potential threat of new biochemical pollutants in food to health has become a problem that cannot be ignored [10]. In recent years, governments at all levels have enacted laws and regulations to stop the production and use of some highly toxic chemical pesticides [13]. At the summary meeting of the third anniversary of the promulgation and implementation of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Pesticide Management held in Beijing in 2000, the Ministry of Agriculture will take measures to stop approving the registration of five highly toxic pesticides, such as methamidophos and parathion. Some provinces and cities have decided to completely ban the sale and use of highly toxic and residual pesticides in vegetable areas during the peak period of pesticide use. However, in the second quarter of 2000/kloc-0, the results of national product quality supervision and spot check showed that the detection rate of methamidophos and omethoate, which had been banned, was still very high [14]. The food safety problems caused by pesticide pollution have not only stayed at the level of expert appeal and social concern. Dioxins and their analogues have obvious carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity and immunotoxicity, and their pollution problems have always attracted international attention. Research on Key Technologies of Food Safety, a key project of the Tenth Five-Year Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology, shows that the per capita daily dietary intake of dioxins in China is 72.48pg, respectively 1.2 1 pg/kgbw, and the monthly dietary intake is 36.24pg/kgbw. This pollution level is equivalent to that caused by waste incineration technology in developed countries and close to the level of the World Health Organization.
Third, the application of new food technologies and new resources (such as genetically modified foods, enzyme preparations and new food packaging materials) has brought new challenges to food safety [10]. In recent ten years, modern biotechnology represented by genetic engineering technology has shown great production and market potential in the fields of agriculture and food. Rich profits and high investment make the rapid development of modern biotechnology an irresistible trend [16]. Food safety caused by biological safety has become the focus of international attention. However, there are many difficulties in evaluating the safety of genetically modified food with traditional toxicological test methods and risk assessment procedures. According to the current research results, it is not certain that genetically modified foods will cause potential harm to human health.
Fourth, the scale and intensification of China's food production and operation enterprises are not high, and their own management level is still low [10]. In recent years, the food industry in China has been developing continuously. In 200 1 year, the number of food production and business units in China increased by 1995, reaching 4.32 million, and the number of employees increased by 5%, reaching170,000. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2000, the national food industry accounted for 8.8% of the total industrial output value, of which the food processing industry accounted for 29.48% of the added value of the food industry. A number of powerful enterprises have emerged in the food industry, reaching good manufacturing practices (GMP), and large enterprises have adopted OEM (0EM) mode for inter-provincial cooperation. They have provided technical support with perfect quality standards and management system, and constantly explored the market [17]. However, the proportion of enterprises that have reached GMP in the food industry is still low, and family workshops and food stalls with small scale, low management level, backward processing equipment and weak health guarantee ability are still important reasons that affect the food hygiene level. On the one hand, the food industry, especially the catering industry, has absorbed a large number of laid-off workers in cities and rural surplus labor, but on the other hand, the poor processing facilities, lack of health knowledge and unfamiliar operating skills have also brought hidden dangers to food hygiene [18].
Fifth, it is increasingly important to prevent criminals from using food to commit crimes or terrorist activities [7]. In recent years, there have been more and more cases of criminals using food for destruction, and the case of extraordinarily large rat poison poisoning in Nanjing in September 2002 is a typical case. In 2003, food poisoning incidents caused by poisoning increased significantly compared with previous years, which was the main cause of poisoning death. Poisoning substances are mainly highly toxic acute rodenticide (mostly tetramine), which is the first cause of poisoning death. In 2003, * * * reported 75 cases of toxic rodenticide poisoning, including poisoning 13 16 people and death 12 1 person, with a fatality rate of 9.2% [1]. This kind of sabotage not only harms people's health, but also disturbs social stability and unity.
Sixth, the conditions, means and funds of food safety supervision and management can not fully meet the actual work needs [10]. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the health administrative department of the State Council has been committed to the construction of the health team. After more than 50 years' efforts, China has a health supervision and law enforcement team of 654.38 million people and a technical team of 200,000 people. However, compared with 4.32 million food production and business units and 654.38+065.438+065.438+070 million food employees, the resources for health supervision are very limited [654.338
Second, the main countermeasures of food safety management
1, the global security strategy of the World Health Organization
In May 2000, the 53rd World Health Assembly (WHA 53. 15) lists food safety as a key area of global public health for the first time in the history of WHO. In 2002, the WHO Global Food Security Strategic Plan was put forward. Objective-To reduce the impact of food-borne diseases on health and society. Measures-① Strengthen the food-borne disease monitoring system; ② Improve the risk assessment method; ③ Establish a method to evaluate the safety of new technology products; ④ Improve the scientific and public health functions of WHO in the code; ⑤ Strengthen the dangerous process and publicity; ⑥ Strengthen domestic and international cooperation; ⑦ Strengthening the construction of functional departments in developing countries [19]. All the medicines are here. www.med 126.com
2. The main countermeasures to improve and improve the level of food safety in China
2. 1 Strengthen the national food safety control system. Including manpower construction and division of labor among departments.
2.2 Continuous monitoring of food pollution and food-borne diseases. It provides a scientific basis for finding out the "family background" and evaluating the effectiveness of control measures.
2.3 Apply hazard analysis to food safety legislation, including the formulation of standards. This point is particularly emphasized in the relevant agreements of the WTO, and only in this way can it be based on science and coordination.
2.4 Vigorously strengthen laboratory testing capabilities. This is a technical guarantee for finding out the "family background" in international trade and protecting national interests.
2.5 Pay attention to the enterprise's own management. Because in the whole production and consumption process of food from farmland to table, enterprises should be the main body of food safety [20].
2.6 Establish a health supervision system and technical support system to effectively ensure food safety [2 1].
2.7 Pay attention to publicity and education. Including extensive and lasting education for government departments, enterprises and consumers [20].