City publishes food safety blacklist

A food safety blacklist published for the first time by city officials yesterday listed two restaurants and 13 individuals banned from all food service in the city for violating China's Food Safety Law, officials said.

The 13 were given prison terms ranging from one year to 42 months.

Nine committed crimes such as illegal sales of dead pigs and selling industrial salt as table salt. Four were owners of the two blacklisted eateries, Fula Hotpot Restaurant and Zhenjiang Sichuan Restaurant, which used recycled soup in new hotpots, which could endanger customers' health.

Nationally, more than 8,200 suspects have been captured since a campaign to crack down on food safety crime was launched on January 25, the Ministry of Public Security said yesterday.

The ministry said police uncovered more than 4,500 cases involving food safety offenses and closed about 6,300 workshops and markets that produced or sold illegal food products.

Police confiscated more than 150,000 illegal products, including fake cooking oil, meat, spices and seasonings, health care products, alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and illegal additives, the ministry said in a report.

While food monitoring and inspection is being beefed up in the city, many risks still exist, according to officials from the Shanghai People's Congress.

"Most food in Shanghai is from other provinces, and authorities aren't getting specific and timely inspection information from them. Also, some food sellers skirt proper checks when they enter the city," said Xue Mingyang, vice director of the inspection team of the people's congress. "The illegal use and overuse of pesticides also exists at local farms."

Also, the city only handed out some 370,000 yuan (US$59,677) in rewards last year for reporting food scandals, representing only 7.4 percent of a fund of 5 million yuan that was set aside for rewards, Xue added.