Crackdown not enough
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China Daily, October 10, 2011
There is reason to praise what the public security departments have achieved nationwide in what they call "targeted actions" against the production and sale of unsafe food and agricultural products.
In the past a month and half, more than 36,000 cases have been cracked, and 7,165 unlicensed workshops, plants and markets smashed and more than 17,000 people detained or arrested.
What is particularly noteworthy is the Ministry of Public Security has called what it has achieved so far only preliminary and said that it will not halt its campaign until such unlicensed venues are rooted out.
But while we gain a measure of confidence from the resolve the public security authorities have shown in improving food safety, the question remains how could so many unlicensed food workshops and plants manage to exist and how could so many people be involved in the first place.
There is no reason to doubt the capability of the public security departments at all levels to close down such illegal workshops and crack down on the illegal activities, and the current action is undoubtedly necessary to make sure that people get safe food to eat and rural villagers have safe fertilizer, pesticides and quality seeds for farming.
But what many people remain uncertain about is how the achievements made so far will be maintained permanently. They fear the unlicensed workshops and plants will re-emerge once the action comes to an end.
Even if further action by the public security departments leaves little room for such illegal activities, it is still too early to conclude there will be no need to worry about food safety.
What is needed is the proper performance of government watchdogs, which should have made it impossible for such illegal activities to exist in the first place.
To a certain extent, the necessity of such a large scale crackdown by the public security authorities points to the fact that quite a number of government watchdogs, such as the administration of industry and commerce, are not fulfilling their function.
Their inability to perform their duties has made it possible for such a large number of illegal workshops and plants to develop and for such a large number people to be involved.
Whether they can do a better job will be decisive in preventing unlicensed food producers from operating in the future. They are paid to keep an eye on fake and shoddy products and unsafe food and they are undoubtedly to blame when unsafe food poses a threat to people's health and shoddy goods affect the quality of people's lives.
So besides the crackdown, it is imperative that government watchdogs work as they should.
