China Fights Against Illegal Food Additives
By: Amy Holwerda
Published: May 14, 2011

China, the land of MSG, is taking a stand against illegal food additives. Recent reports show a rise in government awareness to food production in China following a string of food scandals and recalls. According to a statement released Saturday by the office of the food safety commission under the State Council, city governments all across China have incorporated the local food safety situation into the evaluation of officials' work, while ordering strengthened and coordinated food safety supervision at city and county levels.
Governments have provided 24-hour complaint hotlines for food safety complaints, and in the Jiiin province, government officials recruited 1,300 voluntary food safety supervisors to go deep into communities for clues on potential food scandals. Supervisors in southern Guangxi Zhuang were equipped with additive detecting devices, which are reportedly able to check 27 kinds of illegal food additives "quickly and correctly," including melamine and clenbuterol, a kind of fat-burning drug used by violators to feed pigs to prevent them from accumulating fat. Beijing also requires restaurants to inform customers of all food additives contained in their self-made beverages and food sauces by posting the lists in menus or other public places.
New regulations cover the usage of 2,314 types of food additives, processing aids, gum bases and food flavorings. These revised regulations state that labels for all food products should clearly state the names and amounts of food additives being used and ban the use of benzoyl peroxide and calcium peroxide in flour processing earlier this year. Chinese government states that the country's improved processing techniques for wheat and flour had rendered the additives obsolete.