China’s Ministry of Agriculture has outlined plans to increase monitoring and enforcement of agricultural standards and practices focusing particularly on permissible food additives, veterinary pharmaceuticals and pesticides. The move will attempt to wipe out dangerous practices that have plagued China’s food industry. The Ministry of Agriculture has specifically earmarked six key areas that will be subject to greater scrutiny and more stringent monitoring.
The first area for improvement will focus on eradicating the use of toxic pesticides. The initiative will target the primary agricultural supply chains for major cities and densely populated areas. Monitoring and enforcement responsibilities will be delegated to the local authorities. Fruits, vegetables and teas will be primary targets for inspection. The pesticides of primary concern include methamidophos, carbofuran, omethoate, isocarbophos and fipronile nitrile.
The second area to target is agricultural use of thermogenic agents to increase lean muscle value of ruminants and pigs. Despite the Ministry’s ban of this substance, the use of Clenbuterol to increase the muscle to fat ratio of animals has continued. Multiple scandals involving this agent have highlighted its widespread use and inherent toxicity if present in the food chain.
The third area outlined involves dairy farming practices and will target the primary dairy farming regions. All milk parlors and raw milk transportation systems will be subject to the increased supervision. Heavy sanctions will be imposed for use of illegal additives or companies failing to adhere to the current regulations.
The fourth area will focus on the veterinary practices involving antibiotic and antiviral drugs. The Ministry intends to cut down on overuse of these agents and will also ensure farming enterprise limit themselves to regulated antibiotic and antiviral agents. The Ministry also required greater scrutiny of documentation to deter use of falsified documents and forgeries.
All marine based produce will also be the subject of the Ministry’s increased vigilance. The Ministry will attempt to halt the use of toxic substances such as nitrofuran and malachite green.
The final area of concern for the Ministry will be shutting down all unlicensed agricultural production. Unregistered producers involved in farming and agricultural production will be investigated thoroughly and if they fail to comply with current regulations they will be shut down and subject to severe sanctions and punishments.
Whilst the regulatory framework governing these agricultural sectors has been in place for quite some time, the consistent reoccurrence of food industry scandals and controversy have diminished the reputation of the industry and made a mockery of the Ministry. In an effort to stem the tide of consumer dissatisfaction, public health concern and global condemnation, the Ministry has pledged to step up its efforts in monitoring and enforcement and promises to clean up an industry suffering at the hands of particularly unsavory and unscrupulous practices. Amongst the Ministry’s combative arsenal are heavy financial sanctions and legal and criminal actions.
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