A special CCTV2 program on April 16 and 17 about at least nine
children who have died choking on jelly sweets since 2000 has aired
calls for stricter standards on their size and packaging.
"Some warnings do exist on the packaging of 'Hwa Yuan' jelly
sweets, but they made no sense to my young daughter," said Chen
Junchao, father of a 19-month-old girl in Shanghai
who choked to death on March 26.
All small jelly sweets of about 3 centimeters in diameter, which
can be easily eaten by children, should be taken off the shelves,
according to Chen, whose daughter died eating one manufactured by
Shanghai Hwa Yuan Foods Co., Ltd. under the label of a Taiwan-based
firm.
Four major Taiwan-based producers have suspended production of
small jelly sweets, and have recalled about 50 tons of their
products in the wake of the young girl's death, the Shanghai-based
Oriental Morning Post reported.
"The design and production of jelly sweets should be supervised
by a medical expert who has a good knowledge of healthcare," Hong
Keming, a Shanghai Municipal People's Congress deputy, said last
week.
Zhang Dezhi, from the China Consumer's Association, said he
hoped production standards could be tightened and standardized.
According to sources from Shanghai's quality and technology
supervision authority, current production standards for the sweets
contain no clear guidelines for their size.
Two sets of standards issued by the Ministry of Health, the
Standardization Administration of China and the National Light
Industry Association only have requirements for ingredients, color,
and microbes.
Zhang Lihong, a Shanghai quality and technology authority
official, said that any standard five years old becomes subject to
revision, and the current standards have been in place for four
years, since November 2001.
Chen's daughter's death was the most recent in a series of
accidents involving children aged 8 months to 10 years.
Such sweets have been banned in the US, Canada, some European
countries and South Korea due to their hazardous nature to young
children.
"Reducing the production of small jelly sweets and making them
larger is supposed to be a development trend, which can help cut
costs and threats to the consumer," said Huang Jinghong, division
manager with BVI Xufuji International Food Corporation.
China has the largest market for jelly sweets in the world.
There are approximately 300 manufacturers with a production volume
of about 600,000 tons, worth nearly 5 billion yuan (US$603 million)
annually.
(China Daily April 18, 2005)