2018Food Safety: for Whom the Bell Tolls?

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For the food safety incidents occurred in recent years, enterprises involved have been severely punished, while judicial punishment for regulators conducting malpractices is a far cry from satisfactory. A supervision campaign for food safety triggered off by the steamed bun scandal in Shanghai has swept across the whole country. The next day after the tainted steamed bun scandal was reported in Shanghai on April 11, a citywide inspection of steamed buns was launched. Afterwards, rectification targeting at steamed buns was initiated in such places as Inner Mongolia, Tianjin, Shangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. As a matter of fact, similar rectification programs are not strange to us. After the occurrence of such food safety incidents as tainted milk powder, Sudan Red, and brown meat essence pork, large-scale rectifications were staged speedily. This kind of massive rectification did play an important role in identifying the roots of the problems. However, repeated exposure of food safety scandals make us ponder that how effectively will rectification storm secure food safety? Targeted rectification featuring thorough inspection cannot touch upon the system loopholes of food safety. Temporary rectification storm may address the symptoms, but not the cause. The ignorance of the whole system governance excuses enterprises and regulators from responsibilities. In the Shanghai tainted steamed bun scandal, the self-justification from agencies concerned such as “supervisory agencies were resolute to not cover faults”and “Hualian Supermarket enables the illegal producers to avail themselves of the loopholes” was merely a maneuver among others to play the blaming game. Actually, many food safety problems are derived from hidden rules of the industry. A supervisory body in Shanghai revealed such a hidden rule―the supermarkets returned the food nearing shelf life to manufacturers, who then reprocessed the expired food. How could the watchdog turn a blind eye to this age-old hidden rule? Unscrupulous enterprises are to blame for the frequent occurrence of the food safety scandals, but the absence of administrative supervision and regulatory chaos is the root. For instance, some regulators in the brown meat essence pork scandal act in collusion with illegal enterprises and manufacturers for allied interests, which breaks down the food safety defense. The long-standing malpractice in administrative supervision makes it hard to deliver the commitment for food safety. But the malpractice within the administrative system can only be corrected through effective supervision and punishment outside the system rather than self- examination and selfchecking. In the tainted steamed bun scandal, the unscrupulous enterprises’food production licenses were revoked immediately and five suspects including the corporate legal representative were detained by police on criminal charge. However, when will juridical accountability for the supervisory agencies be initiated? Consumers calling for food safety also expect jurisdiction to question the supervisory agencies how the last defense line for citizens’ security collapse? An overview of the food safety scandals occurred in recent years indicates that the juridical accountability for folk small and medium-sized enterprises has been basically in place, but that for the incompetent regulators is far from satisfactory. It is generally believed that this practice will considerably enhance supervision effectiveness, curbing illegal acts in the food safety domain. To some degree, the tainted steamed bun scandal has served as a model. Food safety scandals in various forms go beyond consumers’ imagination; disordered and bewildered supervision challenges administrators’ credibility and authority. The tainted steamed bun scandal sounds again the food safety alarm, but everyone needs to ponder for whom the bell tolls.