The chaotic handling of expired food

Following clenbuterol, dyed steamed buns have become a new focus of food safety issues. CCTV's "Consumer Advocacy" revealed that in some supermarkets in Shanghai, those white, fragrant and soft wheat steamed buns and light yellow and attractive cornmeal steamed buns were actually made from expired steamed buns. Some steamed buns that were approaching or past their shelf life were shipped back to the company, and after all kinds of food additives were added, they were "facelifted" and turned into new steamed buns.

The number of problematic steamed buns of 30,000 per day is huge. But dyed steamed buns are by no means unique. In fact, they reflect a long-standing problem in China's food safety field - the chaotic handling of expired food.

Who determines the "expiry date"

Expired food: Who determines the "expiry date" and how to determine the "expiry date" In the United States, there are generally four dates on food packaging: sales expiration date , best taste period, consumption period and sealing and packaging period. Food that has expired should not be eaten and should be destroyed. In our country, the classification is not so detailed, but generally speaking, what we call shelf life refers to the fact that the food will not change in appearance, color, texture, taste, safety performance and other aspects within the period. In fact, this is also a commitment from the manufacturer, which means that the manufacturer will be responsible for the safety of the food during the shelf life. At the same time, this shelf life is generally determined by the manufacturer. They will conduct strict experiments and then multiply the shelf life obtained from the experiment by 0.7 or 0.8 to ensure safety. It is actually unrealistic for the industry or even the government to uniformly set a shelf life standard, because each manufacturer's technology is good or bad. If the technology is backward, it may deteriorate before the shelf life is reached. On the contrary, the shelf life can be effectively extended. It is of course an ideal situation for the quality supervision department to devote energy to supervise each company's determination of shelf life.

The harm of expired food to the human body

It may cause food poisoning and acute infectious diseases

If the shelf life is exceeded, although the food may not necessarily have a problem, it may cause an accident. The ratio has increased. For example, the chance of being within the shelf life is one in 10,000, but after the shelf life, it may be one percent. Many manufacturers and sellers just take a chance and recycle expired food.

What will happen if you eat expired food? According to experts, expired food may cause bacteria to multiply, which can lead to "biological" food poisoning and acute infectious diseases after consumption; on the other hand, expired food can also cause chemical changes (such as oil rancidity), which can lead to "Chemotype" food poisoning. (Food poisoning is divided into two types according to its nature: biological type and chemical type.) Many expired foods are returned to the table for destruction. Currently, the most formal treatment is but the cost is high. Some responsible food companies have Special environmentally friendly incinerator equipment can burn expired products. This is also the behavior that most complies with relevant laws.

But for more companies, they have difficulties in destroying or properly disposing of expired food. If discarded food is discarded as garbage, it will pollute the environment. Because expired food is a potential threat, it must be disposed of at the same level as medical waste and other abnormal waste. Waste disposal companies charge as high as about 2,000 per ton. Many food companies say they cannot afford it, or some companies that can afford it I also thought it would only increase the cost and gave up. Destination 2

Distribute to employees, crush them into feed, or throw them away directly as garbage

Some companies will use expired food as "welfare" to employees. Other companies are thinking about how to minimize losses, and there happen to be people in the market who specialize in purchasing expired food, such as cooked food or vegetables from supermarkets. Some of them will be sold to small restaurants. The so-called cooked food from big supermarkets is on the market. Such is the case with a diner table. Both of these behaviors will inevitably lead to expired food being eaten.

Some companies will remove the bags of expired food, crush the food and finally make it into feed. In rural areas, it is also common for food operators to use expired food to feed livestock. This is originally a good thing for environmental protection. However, some expired food actually becomes moldy after being made into feed, and as a result, livestock will get into trouble if they eat it.

In addition, some expired food is thrown away by companies at will, which actually pollutes the environment. Where to go 3

After being processed and then put on the market again, rural areas have become the hardest hit areas

Whether it is dyed steamed buns or the famous Guanshengyuan mooncakes in the past, they are all expired foods that have been given plastic surgery Relisted.

There are several main ways to re-list expired food:

1. Directly hide or change the date. If the appearance of expired food seems to be basically the same, the packaging, production date label or printing code should be changed before being put on the market. There are many examples of this. Some companies are even lazier and simply tear off the production date label so that consumers cannot see the date.

2. It will be put on the market after a "facelift". Dyeing steamed buns is such a “perfect” example.

Conclusion:

In rural areas, because supervision is more lax, there are many small workshops and small food processing factories. In addition, people’s food safety awareness is not as strong as in cities, and it is even more outdated. A place where questionable food and junk food are rampant. Legislation is needed

A food safety legal system that matches laws, regulations, rules, plans and standards must be formed as soon as possible, and units or individuals who violate food safety laws must be severely punished.

Legislative supervision

The regulations are imperfect, supervision is not active, there are loopholes in laws and documents, and the cost of breaking the law is not high

"Food Safety Law": What if there are no regulations? Destruction, who will supervise

Articles 28, 40, and 85 of the "Food Safety Law" all have legal provisions regarding expired food. However, apart from the general statement that it is prohibited to sell food that has exceeded its shelf life and that it must be cleaned up in time, it does not explain how to clean it up or how to supervise it.

Notice from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine: There has been progress, but destruction regulations and supervision are still vague and have no legal effect

"About the Strict Prohibition of the Use of Recycled Food in Food Production and Processing" issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine "Notice on Related Issues as Production Raw Materials" stipulates the scope of recycled food, food processing enterprises' establishment of recycled food destruction system and related supervision. It is not clear who will destroy it and who will supervise it. The most important thing is that this "Notice" is neither a law nor an administrative regulation. It has only general binding force but no legal effect.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce stipulates that it is required to truthfully record the handling of expired food, but it is easy to get away with it

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce has issued the "Standardizing the Food Certificate and Invoice System and the Purchase Ledger System" Guiding Opinions" requires that the handling of food that has exceeded the shelf life or is spoiled, spoiled, or of substandard quality should be truthfully recorded. But in fact, many manufacturing companies are responsible for the recycling of goods. It is easy to fabricate the destruction and cannot be found in the books.

Zhejiang local regulations: expired food will no longer be returned to the supplier, and the seller will destroy it on its own initiative

This is a regulation issued by the Zhejiang Industry and Commerce Bureau in 2007, which stipulates that expired food will not be returned to the supplier. To a certain extent, manufacturers cannot allow manufacturers to reprocess food, which is an improvement compared to previous regulations and documents. However, poor supervision will also cause problems, which will be mentioned below.

In addition, the cost of violating the law for expired food is very low, often only tens of thousands of yuan in fines. However, in the United States, a health food store, CVS, sold expired food and medicine. In New York State alone, it voluntarily accepted a fine of US$850,000. There are also examples of supermarkets being fined and closed for selling expired food. For sellers, if they are considered to have sold expired goods, their reputation will be greatly affected, and the gain outweighs the loss. Therefore, some Chinese people in the United States will lament that in a certain large supermarket, if you indicate that the food has expired, you can return it and will not resell it, because the merchants are also afraid that if the customer actually eats something wrong, it will be a big trouble. .

Supervision: The departments’ powers and responsibilities are unclear, and they focus on the production link but not on the sales link.

Food safety issues are "multiple to control", resulting in unclear powers and responsibilities and causing confusion. Health, quality inspection, industry and commerce, agriculture... each department can be managed, but the result of too many departments is "no one manages", because these departments often have overlapping functions and disconnected connections. As for supervision, generally speaking, each department spends all its efforts on the production process and invests very little in the recall process.

Management is required

Establish and improve the food market certification system, formulate and improve safety inspection, supervision and spot inspection and market access systems, and strengthen the construction of food safety functional management departments. The focus should be on establishing a food safety system based on prevention measures and exploring the formulation of market hierarchical management methods.

It is necessary to standardize

Establish and improve the food safety social credit system, use information technology to establish food safety credit files, track and monitor food quality, safety and hygiene, and gradually form a survival of the fittest mechanism to Companies that don't have security guarantees clear out the market.

Be public

Establish a food safety information disclosure system and release it to the public regularly to let people know which foods are safe and which foods are unsafe, so that people can understand what they eat , Eat with peace of mind.

Flowed into colleges and universities

Wenzhou workshops produced and sold nearly 200,000 dyed steamed buns, and some of them went to colleges and universities

Wenzhou’s industrial and commercial department recently investigated and punished a dyed steamed buns workshop. It is reported that from March 22 to April 14, 2011, the workshop sold approximately 194,800 dyed steamed buns, of which 11,000 were sold to a nearby university.

Without a single corn, thousands of "corn buns" are made. On April 15, 2011, the Wenzhou Industrial and Commercial Department investigated and punished a steamed bun workshop. The workshop uses various additives such as lemon yellow, saccharin sodium, corn flavor and other additives to prepare corn steamed buns and white steamed buns.

The account books show: Between March 22 and April 14, 2011, they sold 194,800 steamed buns. The case is still under further investigation.

The workshop is located on Ganzhong Road, Zhuangyuan Gan'ao Village, Wenzhou City, with very simple conditions.

The steamer is placed on the ground outside the door of the house (inside the tent), with a pile of coal next to it. The floor of the workshop was full of mud and the walls were full of mold. There is also a bed for sleeping. It seems that this is also the staff's lounge. The workshop does not have a health permit or a business license.

Law enforcement officers did not find a single piece of corn at the scene, but the workshop sold "corn buns."

There are 5 bottles of liquids and 3 bags of solids placed on the countertop of the workshop. The 5 bottles of liquids are "Tartrazine 60", "Sweet Corn Flavor", and "Golden Corn Flavor"; the 3 bags of solids are "Sodium Saccharin" and "Red Apple Highly Active Dry Yeast".

A female worker on site said that these were added directly during the interview.

The flour made from "lemon yellow" and "corn essence" is used to make corn steamed buns; flour without pigment is used to make white steamed buns, and some saccharin and saccharin are added to increase the sweetness and aroma. essence.

“As for how much to add, it mainly depends on the feel,” the female worker said.

In the workshop, law enforcement officers found an account book that recorded the sales of steamed buns in the workshop from March 22, 2011 to April 14, 2011.

Judging from the ledger data, the workshop’s daily turnover is around 3,000 yuan. From March 22, 2011 to April 14, 2011, approximately 194,800 steamed buns were sold in 24 days. Among them, 11,000 dyed steamed buns were sold to a university near the workshop.

The Wenzhou City Industrial and Commercial Department has banned this "black-hearted" steamed bun workshop and will report the relevant situation to the quality supervision department.

Chen Xianqun, director of the Wenzhou Food Research Institute, said that lemon yellow pigment, corn essence, saccharin sodium, etc. are all additives allowed by the state, but the scope of use is limited and not applicable to all foods.

"For example, it is prohibited to add colorings and saccharin to pasta products. In addition, corn flavor can be used in corn bread, but if corn flavor is directly used to replace corn, it is suspected of being fake and shoddy, which is illegal." Chen Xianqun said.

It is understood that long-term intake of lemon yellow pigments, flavors, saccharin, etc. will affect the normal development of teenagers. Food production companies should stop production immediately if they find that the food they produce is unsafe. Yesterday, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine solicited opinions on the newly revised "Food Recall Management Regulations". The recall procedures for problematic foods have been simplified compared to the regulations implemented in 2007. At the same time, if the recalled food is treated with harmless measures, it cannot be reused in food production and sales. For foods that have been recalled because labels, signs or instructions do not meet food safety standards, they can continue to be sold if remedial measures are taken and food safety can be guaranteed, but the remedial measures should be clearly stated to consumers.

Recalls do not require assessment hearings

In August 2007, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued the "Food Recall Management Regulations", which involved food safety hazard investigation and assessment, voluntary food recalls and orders The *** has five chapters and 45 articles regarding the implementation of recalls and legal responsibilities for food recalls. The draft issued for comments yesterday was, first of all, greatly "downsized" in terms of length. Not only is it no longer divided into chapters, but it only has 27 articles.

In these short 27 articles, the recall procedures have changed a lot. The draft for comments stipulates that if a food production company finds that the food it produces is unsafe, it should immediately stop production.

However, in the old regulations implemented in 2007, to determine whether food is unsafe, food safety hazard investigation and food safety hazard assessment should be conducted. If the results of the food producer's food safety hazard investigation and food safety hazard assessment are inconsistent with the results of the expert committee, hearings and other methods may even be used to handle the matter. Finally, only after investigation and assessment of food safety hazards, if it is confirmed that the food is unsafe due to production reasons, the recall level should be determined and the recall implemented

The new regulations do not mention the replacement of goods

This draft for comments not only further simplifies the procedures for food recalls, but also tightens the recall methods.

The 2007 regulations define: “Recall means that food producers follow prescribed procedures to replace, return, replenish, or replenish unsafe foods of a certain batch or category caused by their production reasons. or amending consumption instructions, etc., to eliminate or reduce food safety hazards in a timely manner.”

In the draft for comments, “exchanges, returns, supplements or amendments to consumption instructions, etc.” are tightened to “ Return or correction mark" two types.

In addition, in the definition of unsafe food in the consultation draft, in addition to retaining "food that has induced food contamination, food-borne diseases or caused harm to human health or even death; In addition to the content of "foods that cause diseases or harm to human health", "foods that do not meet food safety standards" is also added.

Three days to submit recall plan

The recall classification system implemented in the 2007 version of the regulations is also missing from the draft for comments.

The original regulations divided food recalls into three levels based on the severity of food safety hazards. For example, the "Level 1 recall" is the most severe, that is, food contamination, food-borne diseases, etc. have been or are likely to cause harm to the human body. The recall of unsafe food that causes serious harm to health or even death, or that has a wide circulation range and has a great social impact. At the same time, there are different requirements for the implementation of each level of recall.

The new regulations no longer implement grading for recalls. The draft for comments unified the time for submitting the recall plan to three days. The draft said: "Submit the food recall plan to the local quality supervision department within three days, and take necessary measures to notify relevant producers, operators and consumers of the food information that needs to be recalled. , take effective measures such as returns and recall the food that has been sold.”

This is equivalent to the first-level recall in the 2007 version of the regulations.

Recalls should be elevated to law

The "Food Recall Management Regulations" soliciting opinions this time are undoubtedly measures to connect with the "Food Safety Law".

At this time, the 2007 version of the "Food Recall Management Regulations" has been implemented for nearly four years, and the "Food Safety Law" has been implemented for nearly two years. Qiu Baochang said that as a departmental regulation, the "Food Recall Management Regulations" are obviously limited in strength. Food recall issues should be raised to the regulations of the State Council, or even to the legal level. In that case, the penalties and measures will be greater, and the deterrent effect will be relatively weak. .

Feedback

Relevant units or individuals are welcome to submit comments on the draft for comments, and they should be fed back to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine before May 31.