Once sustenance was assured, food safety became an issue in China, and after the Sanlu milk powder scandal in 2008 attracted unprecedented concern, it became a major and difficult issue.
Xu Nan and Zhou Wei from chinadialogue are talking with Wang Guowei, senior official of the policy and legislation department at the State Council Food Safety Commission.
Wang Guowei is of the opinion that the Chinese people`s understanding of food safety is still poor, even to the point of missing what´s important. There´s lot´s of talk about counterfeit food, but few people are aware of the real food safety issues affecting the country. The contamination that has accompanied the industrialisation of food production for example receives too little attention.
Wang Guowei also states that 'Sixty years of peaceful living seems to have made us forget the history China has seen - the war, the upheaval, the changes of government - we never used to have the leisure to discuss quality of life issues like food safety.'
http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/5098-Official-shrugs-off-public-food-panic-?utm_source=Chinadialogue+Update&utm_campaign=2176396192-newsletter+13+August+2012&utm_medium=email
Further information on food safety in China and the EU-China Civil Society Dialogue on 'Industrial Pollution & Environmental Health'
http://www.eu-china.net/german/Materialien/Chinadialogue_2012_Food-Safety-Newsletter.html
