CHINA REVEALS FIVE-YEAR PUSH TO BOOST FOOD AND DRUG SAFETYBy Mure Dickie in Beijing
Thursday, June 07, 2007
中国公布五年规划推进食品药品安全International concern over exports of contaminated Chinese ingredients used in pet food and toothpaste has spurred Beijing to publish its first five-year plan for improving food and drug safety.
中国受到污染的宠物食品原料和牙膏出口国外，引起了国际社会的担心，促使中国政府公布了首个提高食品药品安全的五年规划。
The state council's framework for regulation of food and pharmaceuticals is part of longstanding efforts to address what officials acknowledge are “severe” safety problems.
中国官员承认，食品药品方面存在“严重的”安全问题，而国务院公布的这项食品药品监管规划，就是中国为解决这一问题所付出的长期努力的一部分。
However, Beijing officials have in recent days also highlighted the international implications of incomplete inspection systems, lagging regulation and undisciplined food producers.
不过，中国政府官员近日还强调了国际社会暗示的检查制度不完善、监管滞后以及食品生产商目无法纪等问题。
“Food safety is not just an issue of law enforcement, it is also related to the health and safety of the people, to the nation's image and to bilateral and even multilateral political relationships,” said Li Changjiang, head of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
国家质量监督检验检疫总局局长李长江指出：“
食品安全工作不仅是执法把关问题，而是涉及到人民健康安全，涉及到国家形象，甚至涉及到双边甚至多边政治关系的问题。”
Singapore this week banned the sale of three brands of Chinese-made toothpaste that contained a poisonous chemical, diethylene glycol. The move followed similar action by Latin American countries and a warning from US regulators that toothpaste containing the chemical could be harmful.
本周，新加坡禁止销售三个品牌的中国牙膏，因为其中含有一种有毒化学物质——二甘醇。此前，一些拉丁美洲国家也采取了类似行动，而美国监管机构曾警告称，含有这种化学物质的牙膏可能对人体有害。
In April, pet food that included additives from China apparently contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine was blamed for poisoning thousands of US cats and dogs.
今年四月，含有中国产添加剂的宠物食品被指责为毒死数千只美国猫狗的元凶，而这些添加剂明显受到工业化学物质三聚氰胺污染。
Worries about dangerous food and drug products have been widespread in China for years, and Wen Jiabao, the premier, has made pledges of tougher action a regular feature in his annual “work report”.
在中国，对食品和药品安全问题的担忧已经普遍存在很多年。中国国务院总理温家宝曾在年度“工作报告”中保证，要把更严格的行动作为一种经常性措施。
The release by the state council, or cabinet, of the first “five-year plan” specifically addressing food and drug safety is intended to focus bureaucratic efforts on improving and more strictly implementing supervision of the two industries.
国务院公布的这份规划，是中国首个专门解决食品药品安全问题的“五年规划”，旨在把政府部门的努力集中在提高并更严格地执行对这两个行业的监管上。
The plan, approved in April but not made public then, does not mark a dramatic shift in emphasis.
这份规划今年4月即已获批，但当时并未公布。它在侧重点上并没有明显变化。
But it does call for the creation of systems to monitor food exports that might transmit disease and for residues of drugs in agricultural products and livestock shipments, as well for the “electronic monitoring” of food processing companies.
不过，规划呼吁建立监测制度，对可能传播疾病的食品出口进行监测，对船运货物的农兽药残留进行监控，并对食品加工企业进行“电子监管”。
