APRIL 29, 2011, 8:17 PM HKT

A Positive Take on Chinas Food Safety Scandals

Is Chinas latest series of confidence-shattering food scandals an indictment of Beijings ability to keep consumers safe, or a sign that health authorities are doing their job? Officials detained 16 suspected to have connections in a food safety scandal that caused nearly 300 people to fall ill last weekend, according to state-run China Daily, in what would appear to be a rare spot of good news for Chinas quality control apparatus.

Ng Han Guan/Associated Press

A meat vendor eats her meal as she waits for customers at a market in Beijing, China, Friday, April 15, 2011.

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The suspects allegedly gave livestock the drug ractopamine, a feed additive to boost leaner pork Why China Struggles with Food Safety production, before selling the meat China Skims Milk Producers to consumers in Chinas central Hunan province, the China Daily reported. Ractopamine is one of the 151 ingredients and additives banned in China.
A Positive Take on China's Food Safety Scandals

Earlier reports pointed to clenbuterol, which also speeds muscle growth in animals, as a cause of the illnesses. Chinas authorities responded to public outrage over the Hunan case by announcing a one-year campaign to crack down on banned food additives. Yet new food food-safety issues continued to emerge even after the announcement. Police in southwest city Chongqing seized Monday 286 tons of melaminetainted milk powder, the same substance that killed at least six children and caused illnesses in nearly 300,000 in 2008, from a local food company that uses the powder to make ice cream, the China Daily said. Three people involved were detained. In a separate case, courts on Friday jailed 14 in Shanxi and Hebei provinces after finding them guilty of altering milk powder by adding melamine to it and intentionally selling it as a safe product, state-run Xinhua news agency said. The swell of recent problemsa dozen or more accounts of illnesses and arrests in the past few monthsmight signal to many that China is on the brink of a food safety crisis. But Lester Ross, a Beijing-based attorney with U.S. law firm WilmerHale, says observers should take a second look. Many of the incidents involving seized milk powder and contaminated meat, he points out, are the result of the governments efforts to sniff out offenders. Look back over the past month and youll notice that a half-dozen or more violators have been reported because of government initiatives to push safety checks, Mr. Ross said. All the bad news, in other words, is a sign that the government is making good on its promise to clear the countrys grocery shelves of tainted food.

The commitment to better food standards is still new for Chinas leaders, Mr. Ross said. It has only been two years in which the government has moved aggressively to combat this problem, he said, adding that the countrys inexperience is also a reason for many of its problems. Safety inspectors visit factories and plants on a predictable schedule instead of making surprise visits. There is also no centralized inspection and regulatory structure in the central government. But all the news reports of late may be a sign that Chinas food standards could face a safer future, said Mr. Ross, adding that use of internet tools such as microblogging sitesare getting news out faster and farther. Laurie Burkitt. Follow her on Twitter @lburkitt

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