Official: China to set up "preemptive" food safety network

BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Chinese media) -- A senior health official

said here Wednesday that China will set up a "preemptive" monitoring system to

improve food safety in China.

"It means we will try to rid food problems by early detection, early warning and early intervention," said Su Zhi, deputy general director of health inspection and supervision

bureau under the Ministry of Health.

Illegal chemicals added into food have led to several

major food scares in China. Despite frequent government crackdowns, illegal

non-food substances remained a threat.

In the latest scandal, milk powder and other dairy

products containing the industry chemical melamine sickened more than 294,000

infants and likely killed six.

Su said the "preemptive" monitoring system" will

include a monitoring network on food manufacturing and distribution with focus

on food additives and non-food substances.

"Enterprises must list what they've added into the

food products. Except for food additives, it is illegal to add any other

non-food substances no matter whether they are harmful or not," he told Chinese media.

The system will also include a monitoring network on

food-borne diseases, blacklists of illegal food additives, building of a

competent technician team and a transparent reporting system, he said.

Su said the "preemptive" approach, proposed by

China's Health Minister Chen Zhu, was based on lessons from the tainted dairy

scandal.

"We used to rely on crackdowns (to solve food

problems)," he said. "But now we are combining punishment with prevention with

more stress on the latter."

On Dec. 15, the Ministry of Health published a

blacklist of 17 non-food substances that could not be added to food production,

including melamine and cancer-causing industrial dye sudan red used to color egg

yolks.

Su said the Ministry will continue to blacklist

illegal additives. "The purpose is to encourage public supervision," he said.

China has approved a total of 1,812 types of food

additives, including 290 food additives, 1,528 spices, 149 food processing

auxiliary materials and 55 chewing gum bases, according to a food additive

standard effective in June this year.