Want China Times, Staff Reporter, 2012-11-22
Chinese liquor on sale at a supermarket in Chengdu. (File photo/Xinhua) |
The
discovery of plasticizers in Chinese liquor products has triggered food
security fears with consumers complaining that the China Alcoholic Drinks
Industry Association deferred disclosing the matter for 17 months after it
became aware of the contamination, Guangzhou's 21st Century Business Herald
reports.
The
association published a statement on Nov. 19, saying that after a comprehensive
inspection of liquor products across the country, it found some products
contained levels of toxic plasticizing agents of between 0.495mg/kg and
2.32mg/kg, exceeding legally permissible levels.
The report
said China's food safety problems usually arise from the defective management
of supervisory and regulatory agencies, as well as flaws in the establishment
of product standards.
Under the
existing system, the management of liquor products involves a number of
government agencies, including the State Council's food safety commission, the
Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Health, the General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), the State Food and Drug
Administration and the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association.
In 2004,
the State Council or cabinet introduced rules to ensure the implementation of a
principle that allowed a government agency to take charge of the supervision of
a chain in the industry. For instance, it would allow the Ministry of
Agriculture, AQSIQ, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and the
Ministry of Health to regulate the production chain of agricultural products.
In 2009,
the system was made more effective through the Food Safety Law.
When the
industrial plasticizer DEHP was found in many soft drink products in Taiwan
last year, the scandal sparked a great deal of attention from China's food
safety supervisory agencies regarding plasticizer contamination.
In June
2011, the Ministry of Health issued a document, stipulating that the maximum
permissible residue level of Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), a commonly used
plasticizer, should be 0.3 mg/kg.
Later that
month, the State Council's Food Safety Commission published a notice aimed at
further strengthening checks that ensured the quality and safety of alcoholic
products. The notice stipulated strict checks to guard against safety risks in
the production, storage, transport and sales of alcoholic products but did not
touch upon plasticizer risks.
At the same
time, the SFDA had also detected plasticizers in drug products and issued a ban
on the use of eight contaminated products.
An internal
document from the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association admitted that the
association had been aware of liquor products containing plasticizers from June
2011, the newspaper reported.
The
association then issued a notice on July 18, 2011, prohibiting liquor
enterprises from using plasticizers during alcohol production, storage and sale
and asked them to strengthen checks on plastic caps of bottles.
In addition
to the loopholes found in product supervision, the inadequate standards for
plasticizer detection applied in the industry were also cited as a reason for
the plasticizer contamination problem.
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