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Full Text: China's food quality and safety (19) |
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22:08, August 17, 2007 |
4. Promoting Food Trade
The food safety cooperative mechanisms established between China and other countries have greatly promoted bilateral and multilateral cooperation to ensure the safety of foodstuffs traded among them and ease the wide concerns about food safety. For instance, the Sino-Japanese cooperative mechanism plays a key role in ensuring the safety of Chinese food exported to Japan. After Japan''s release of its Positive List System, the Chinese government, through communications and negotiations, persuaded Japan to accept its reasonable proposals and adjust some projects accordingly, and co-sponsored three demonstrations and eight special training workshops to help China''s food export enterprises further standardize the use and administration of pesticide and veterinary medicines, improve the quality tracing system and guarantee the quality and safety of food exported to Japan. The China-US food safety cooperative mechanism plays a similar role. Since the end of 2005, China''s entry-exit inspection and quarantine authorities have continuously found residues of prohibited medicines, pollutants and pathogenic microbes in US meat products exported to China. Their timely notification of such information let the US learn of China''s legal requirements concerning food safety, thus effectively protecting Chinese consumers as well as ensuring healthy development of US export of meat products to China. In 2004 and 2005, the two countries, under this cooperative mechanism, evaluated the safety and sanitation of China''s exported cooked poultry products. The China-EU food safety cooperative mechanism also works well in solving problems both sides are concerned about. Through timely communication and on the basis of risk assessment, China has solved problems in the import of pork products from some dioxin-affected EU countries. While continuously improving its own food safety management and epidemic prevention and control work, it has actively cooperated with the EU in undertaking hygienic system inspection and risk appraisal which helps build confidence in China''s cooked poultry products. The EU has worked out a timetable to resume imports of China''s cooked poultry products in 2007.
Food is the first necessity of man, and it is the most direct and most important consumption product of mankind. China is a responsible country, and the Chinese government is devoted to working for the benefits of the people. Over the years, the Chinese government has endeavored to improve food quality, ensure food safety and protect consumers around the world. But, it must be pointed out that China is still a developing country, and the overall level of food safety, including the standards and the industrialization level of food production, still lags behind that of developed countries. China has a long way to go to improve the quality of foodstuffs. Food quality and safety is a common concern of the human society and a shared duty of the international community. As a large importer and exporter of food, China is keen to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with other countries and make unremitting efforts to ensure the safety of food and promote the healthy growth of the global food trade.
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