City plans blacklist of food safety violators

Shanghai's first blacklist of companies and individuals violating food safety regulations will be announced during this year's food safety promotion week from June 17 to 27, city officials said yesterday.

Companies on the list will face tough punishment including bans from the Shanghai market while individuals will be banned from working in the food industry.

Yan Zuqiang, director of the Shanghai Food Safety Office, said any company or individual on the blacklist will be punished as severely as possible under the law.

More than 94 percent of food samples checked last year met national standards. There were seven mass food poisoning cases in the city, sickening 144 people last year.

The possibility of mass food poisoning was 0.63 per 100,000 people, the lowest such rate ever recorded in the city.

City authorities checked 400,000 food producers and sellers last year. They revoked the licenses of 17,000 companies and shut 2,977 unlicensed production sites and plants. Violators were fined a combined 84 million yuan (US$13.55 million) yuan last year, according to officials.

Police cracked 143 food safety cases last year, netting 215 suspects. The case number was up 79 percent from 2011.

Officials said the city is working on the nation's first food tracing regulation. The tracing network will cover everything from vegetable planting, animal raising, production, processing, transportation and storage.