Government branches supervising food quality should do their job
to prevent dangerous food from being produced, says a signed
article in the Beijing News. An excerpt follows:
As an investigation into duck eggs with cancer-causing red dye
carries on, reports came in from Hebei, where the first case of bad
eggs was found. It seems several duck egg wholesalers sold the
Sudan dye to the duck raisers, asked them to feed their ducks or
chickens with the dye, and then purchased the red-yolk for
wholesale.
Although this occurrence happened in Hebei, it's an important
part of a larger picture. The smooth passage of the duck eggs
containing the dye to the market happened with the assistance of
the wholesale dealers.
As agriculture is becoming more market-orientated, wholesalers
of agricultural products play an important role in relaying market
information to farmers who do not have a complete idea of demand in
the market.
For the same reason, local governments in rural areas and
farmers are willing to facilitate wholesale dealers and trust their
suggestions.
But the information from wholesalers is often manipulated in the
interests of their businesses. This is highlighted in the Hebei
case.
Looking back at cases involving food security and product
quality, manipulation of information by wholesalers is often one of
the most important factors. Some wholesale dealers ask producers to
violate rules and regulations in order to boost profits.
The wholesale dealers are able to manipulate the market because
the supervising authorities of the market do not fully perform
their duties. Long discussed, this problem has never been
fixed.
The quality control departments in charge of checking duck eggs
in Hebei say they carry out an examination every year, but they
have never found eggs containing the cancer-causing dye. The six
governmental branches taking care of the quality of duck eggs do
not have clearly-defined responsibilities among themselves, leaving
the market to the whim of wholesalers.
If wholesale dealers are driven by high profits, they will
distort market information to mislead producers and consumers.
Exploiting the current lack of supervision, the dealers can destroy
the market for their own benefits.
To change the situation, the only solution is for authorities to
better perform their watchdog duties over the quality of
commodities.
(China Daily November 27, 2006)