Official calms fears over veggies
- Source: Global Times
- [08:22 March 11 2010]
- Comments
By An Baijie
Responding to a food scare ignited by the discovery of contaminated cowpeas from Hainan Province, the nation's senior agricultural official Wednesday assured worried consumers that China's farm products are safe, although quality supervision of the agriculture industry will be a "long-term and arduous task."
Wei Chao'an, vice minister of agriculture, tried to calm fears over the cowpeas incident during an ongoing NPC session, where he said that the ministry is trying to guarantee the safety of agricultural products.
"More than 96 percent of vegetables, livestock products and aquatic products were qualified in 2009, so our agricultur-al products are overall safe and of high quality," Wei said. "But we also observed that while we transform from traditional to modern farming, lots of our agriculture production remains scattered, farming methods are still backward and supervision lags behind."
Wei's remarks came amid the country's latest food safety crisis, following the discovery of 3.5 tons of pesticide-contaminated cowpeas transported from Hainan Province to Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, in late January.
Some other provinces, including Guangdong and Anhui, also detected cowpeas containing high pesticide residues from Hainan, which fueled the public's safety concerns over fresh vegetables, especially those grown in Hainan.
Wei said that several vegetable farmers using already-banned highly poisonous pesticides caused the Hainan cowpeas problem. He said the local government in Hainan has strengthened food safety supervision after the incident.
In the aftermath of the vegetable scare, the Hainan government discovered 280 kilograms of banned pesticide on sale in more than 1,700 pesticide stores, Wei said.
"All cowpeas from Hainan now have to meet quality requirements before being sold to other provinces, " Wei said. "Sales volume and prices have both recovered to some extent."
Wei said that to ease public anxiety over the safety of greenhouse vegetables, agricultural authorities would continue to supervise the construction of greenhouses and monitor the amount of pesticides and chemical powders used to produce vegetables.
China enacted the Food Safety Law in 2009, banning production of sub-quality products with excessive pesticide residues.
Zhu Yicai, a NPC member and also the president of Yurun food group, said laws are not enough to guarantee food safety. Quality supervision requires self-regulation by food producers and companies making progress in food technology.
Following a spate of food safety scandals, the nation set up a high-ranking commission to protect consumers' health.
On February 6, The State Council established the Food Safety Commission, headed by vice Premier Li Keqiang, to focus mainly on the issues of food additives, edible farm products, and food processing.
"Food is essential, and safety should be a top priority. Food safety is closely related to people's health, economic develop-ment and social harmony," Li said at the first plenary meeting of the commission on February 9, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
