Food Safety in Asia

Chinese cuisine is highly diverse, drawing on several millennia of culinary history and tremendous geographical variety. While China’s staple food is rice in the south, wheat based breads and noodles prevail in the north. The diet of the common people in pre-modern times was largely grain and simple vegetables, with meat reserved for special occasions. Pork is now the most popular meat in China, accounting for about three-fourths of the country’s total meat consumption. Southern cuisine, thanks to the area’s proximity to the ocean and milder climate, has a wide variety of fish and vegetables.

According to a 2010 World Trade Organization report, China is the world’s top producer of agricultural products by value, with total production of about $536 billion.

China’s principal food crops are rice, corn, wheat, and soybeans, along with apples and other fruits and vegetables. China’s key livestock products include pork, beef, dairy, and eggs.

The Chinese government oversees agricultural production as well as the manufacture of food packaging, containers, chemical additives, drug production, and business regulation.

Quality and safety regulations for agricultural production are covered in the Agriculture Law of the People’s Republic of China (Order of the President No.81), March 1, 2003.

Food Safety Issues

At the same time that China is posting impressive food production statistics, a growing number of alarming safety issues have come to light in recent years, says Linhai Wu, PhD, professor and a chief specialist of Jiangsu Provincial Food Safety Research Base of Jiangnan University in Wuxi, China, where he engages in the research of science and technology management, food safety and trade, and the agricultural economy.

Dr. Wu and his colleague Dian Zhu, PhD, associate professor in the Business School at the Suzhou University, co-authored the 2014 book Food Safety in China: A Comprehensive Review, which addresses the entire food supply chain system in China.

“As China is in a profound state of social transition, including reconstructing the social order, improving the legal system of food safety and recovering consumer confidence, food safety incidents have occurred more frequently,” Dr. Wu says. “Moreover, the media indiscriminately spreads related news and sometimes even intentionally exaggerates the problems in such a way that food safety incidents become the focus of widespread concern.”

It was not an exaggeration that, in 2008, milk and infant formula were intentionally adulterated with the chemical melamine, supposedly to cause these products to appear to have a higher protein content. China reported an estimated 300,000 victims, with six babies tragically dying from kidney stones and other kidney damage, and an estimated 54,000 babies being hospitalized after consuming melamine-tainted product.

Ultimately, two individuals were executed for their roles in the scandal, convicted of the crimes of producing and selling 776 tons of melamine-laced protein powder, and adding melamine-laced powder to fresh milk and selling the resulting concoction to several companies, respectively. At least five other people got prison sentences for their participation in the fraud, anywhere from five years to life.

Recent Regulatory History

The Chinese government had attempted to consolidate food safety regulation with the creation of the State Food and Drug Administration of China in 2003.

On Feb. 28, 2009, China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee passed the first comprehensive Food Safety Law (FSL) for that country. The FSL took effect on June 1, 2009 and is available in Chinese and an unofficial translation is available by USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) as “China, Peoples Republic of; FAIRS Subject Report; Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China; 2009.”

In March 2013, the 2003-established regulatory body was rebranded and restructured as the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), elevating it to a ministerial-level agency. The CFDA replaced a large group of overlapping regulators with an entity similar to the U.S. FDA, which streamed regulation processes for food and drug safety.