Where to Have Safe Food?

Go to the fairs

Maggie Sun， who works in Beijing CBD district， now makes the trip to the Country Fair outside the fourth east ring every weekend to buy week-lasting milk， egg， and vegetable， even though the prices are five times or more than those in the average market. The Country Fair， a volunteer fair focusing on providing safe food， was set up by some Beijing urban citizens who went back to the countryside and the nature to plant and make their own food.

“I can read scandals on unhealthy or poisoned food here almost everyday. I really don’t know what to eat now. So I prefer to trust my friend who has joined in the Country Fair for long，” said Maggie. “Though the foods here are expensive， I visited their farms in the Beijing suburbs， and witnessed by my own eyes which vegetables they plant， which hens lay the eggs， and which cows produce the milk. I feel safe and at ease when eating these foods.” After saying these in satisfaction， she picked up a handful of green spinach labeled by 15 yuan into her shopping basket. By comparison， the same amount of the spinach in average market costs only about 3 yuan.

Food safety became a nationwide concern in China after a spate of food safety incidents， such as food contamination and the illegal use of prohibited ingredients and additives in food production.“What Can I Eat·” is a big question hovering over many Chinese people’s heads.

Be a farmer yourself

In fact， the Country Fair is one of the working-around solutions to deal with the unsafe food problem in China. Another trend has also become hot recently. You can rent a small farm land in the outskirt of the city to plant and harvest your own vegetable. Paying 100 yuan or less per year for one square meter’s farm land， many urban white colors take off their suits and become“green fingered” farmers over the weekends. “I really enjoy my farming life. I plant my own cucumbers， peppers， tomatoes， radishes， carrots， eggplants， pumpkins... I haven’t bought any vegetable from market since I began renting this vegetable farm land，” said Wei Feng， who works in the Beijing downtown and rents a small farm land at the feet of Fenghuanling Mountain， a suburb of the capital. “More than that， I’ve send many of my own vegetables to my friends and relatives as gifts. They all said that my vegetables are of better taste than those in the market. More importantly， they are safe to eat，” Wei said proudly.

Try organic

“I would rather buy organic foods even though they are more expensive， I feel the chance of their safety is bigger than those non-organic. Anyway， the more expensive， the better quality， as a Chinese saying goes，” Sammie Wang， a young lady shopping for vegetables at the organic section of a Beijing supermarket said. However， organic foods administration has been in a mess for a long time. There were also scandals around about fake organic. How to ensure our expensive cost can really receive good quality·

Good news is China launched latest version of Organic Products Certification Rules from March 1. From July 1， all the companies which have already received the Organic certificate should be rechecked， and the qualified ones will receive a new organic label， in which a unique code will be included for each certificate， to replace the old one. The Certification and Accreditation Administration will issue a catalogue collecting all the organic certificates， which will be uploaded to the Chinese food-product certification system website food.cnca.cn too for customers to check. “Though it is troublesome to check the code online each time， and you can only do that after you’ve bought the product， I’m willing to try，” said Sammie.

Where is the future·

Solutions are still being worked on. For average citizens who still buy food from cheap local markets or supermarket， want reassurance they are eating safe food too. Even the amateur vegetable farmers can’t self provide all the food for their own diet. Where is the regulation and supervision· It must be the government’s responsibility to control the messy and unsafe situation. This June， China took the first step forward， and released a five-year plan to upgrade its food safety regulations in the country’s latest efforts to address food safety concerns.

According to the plan posted on the website of the Ministry of Health， the government will improve national food safety standards by revamping outdated standards， reviewing and abolishing any contradicting or overlapping standards and working out new regulations.

Up to now， China has more than 2，000 national food regulations and more than 2，900 industry-based regulations. However， many of the regulations are overlapping or contradict each other， since multiple government agencies were given the responsibility of compiling their own standards years ago.

China is still suffering from the absence of several major food safety regulations， the plan said.

According to the plan， 14 government departments， including the Ministry of Health， the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture， will coordinate to finish revamping the existing standards by 2015.

The government will prioritize safety standards for dairy products， infant food， meat， alcohol， vegetable oil， seasoning， health products and food additives so as to specify limits for dangerous ingredients in these foods， according to the plan.

Moreover， the government will make special efforts to set standards for testing various contaminants， food additives， microorganisms， pesticide and animal drug residue in food production by 2015， according to the plan. It appears there is an optimistic future， but consumers will still have to wait and see how the plans are implemented and turned into real action in the near future.