Food safety dilemma
A recent documentary A Bite of China whetted Cheng Jiayu’s appetite. The 23-year-old is fascinated by fresh ingredients, delicate presentation, intricate cooking and diverse traditions of Chinese food.近日热播的纪录片《舌尖上的中国》令23岁的陈佳宇（音译）胃口大开。中华美食中新鲜的食材，精美的菜式，复杂精细的烹制过程以及饮食传统的多样性都令他为之着迷。
However, a series of food safety incidents has damaged the country’s reputation for fine cuisine. Experts say that an insufficiency of institutional food safety supervision is harming the public’s faith in food.
然而，一系列食品安全事件却令中华美食名声受损。有关专家表示，长期以来食品安全监管机制存在的缺陷正在摧毁公众对食品的信心。
“Now dining out is haunted by questions. Is this meat safe? Does this meal contain additives? Do they use illegal cooking oil?” said Cheng, a food quality inspector in Wuhan. “In my job, I have been shocked to see where some food has come from.”
“如今外出就餐时，人们被无数个问号困扰着。肉类安全吗？食品里含添加剂吗？他们用的是地沟油吗？”作为武汉市一名食品质量检验员，陈佳宇说：“当我在工作中看到一些食品的来源时，感到十分震惊。”
Figures from the Ministry of Agriculture shows China consumes over 2 million tons of food every day from over 400,000 food manufacturers, and 3.23 million related businesses.
农业部的统计数据显示，中国每天消耗200多吨的食品，这些食品来自于40多万家食品生产商，以及323万家相关企业。
To tackle complicated problems concerning food safety, the State Council Food Safety Commission chaired by Vice-Premier Li Keqiang was set up in 2010.
为了解决复杂的食品安全问题，2010年我国设立了国务院食品安全委员会，由国务院副总理李克强出任主席。
However, under the current framework of food safety supervision, more than a dozen departments are involved with six bureaus and ministries directly responsible for stages from farm to table.
然而，现实情况是，在目前的食品安全监管体系下，涉及到六大部委的十几个部门均参与其中，直接负责监管从田间到餐桌的每一个环节。
Luo Yunbo, dean of the food sciences college at China Agricultural University (CAU), says the more agencies involved, the less likely the problem will be solved efficiently.
中国农业大学食品科学院院长罗云波表示，参与监管的机构越多，就越难有效地解决问题。
“There is no clear cut division of responsibility for food safety,” said Luo. “That makes effective supervision a problem. It is very common for officials to pass the buck. Meanwhile, the problems don’t go away.”
“在食物安全这个问题上，目前还没有明确的责任划分。”罗云波说，“这使得有效监管很成问题。官员推卸责任的现象时有发生。同时问题也无法得到解决。”
Zhu Yi, associate professor at CAU, suggests a single government agency should tackle the problem: “It is a trend in food safety supervision to have a sole administration, such as in the UK and Canada, so that problems can be fixed swiftly.”
来自中国农业大学的朱毅副教授建议设立单独的政府监管机构，这才能解决问题。他表示：“在英国和加拿大等国家，在食品安全监管方面实行独立管理已成为一种趋势，这样一来相关问题便可以得到快速解决。”
Li Shan, of the Politics and Public Administration College of Tianjin Normal University, also advocates the need to have a single department covering the whole food production chain.
来自天津师范大学政治学与公共管理学院的李珊（音译），也主张有必要设立单独机构对整个食品生产链进行全面管理。
“Maybe a new ‘ministry of food safety’ that brings various agencies into one administration can help boost the capacity for supervision,” said Li.
李珊说：“或许，将各个政府部门合并成一个新的‘食品安全部’可以加大食物监管的力度。”
All three experts believe it will take some time before there is a Chinese version of the US’ Food and Drug Administration.
以上三位专家都认为，想要建立一个中国版的“美国食品药物管理局”需要花一些时间。
Study Times highlights the mismatch of information between agencies and consumers.
《学习时报》则着重指出了政府部门与消费者之间信息不匹配的问题。
“The lack of an information sharing mechanism among stakeholders in food safety is causing both monitoring overlaps and blind spots,” according to Study Times.
《学习时报》文章称：“在食品安全方面的利益关系人之间，缺少信息共享机制，这导致了监管重复和盲点。”
CAU’s Zhu Yi sees another obstacle – the execution of policies and regulations.
中国农业大学的朱毅则指出，政策和法规的执行是食品安全监管要面对的另一障碍。
“Monitoring equipment is available in markets but much of it is hardly used,” said Zhu.
“市场中都配有监控设备，但大都没有使用过。”朱毅说。
According to Zhu, in Germany, every food inspector is required to carry out over 800 checks on food manufacturers. “But our inspectors often don’t have such a workload,” said Zhu.
朱毅表示，在德国，按规定每位食品检验员必须要对食品生产商进行超过800次的检查。“但我国的食品检验员往往没有这么大的工作量。”
Inspector Cheng does not agree: “We work really hard to trace any food safety issues reported, but there are just too many to tackle them all.”
食品检验员陈佳宇并不认同这一看法：“我们真的是努力追查每一件上报的食品安全问题，但数量实在巨大，无法一一解决。”
Now dining out is haunted by questions. Is this meat safe? Does this meal contain additives? Do they use illegal cooking oil?” said Cheng, a food quality inspector in Wuhan. “In my job, I have been shocked to see where some food has come from.
页:
[1]
