Shanghai Issues Food Safety 'Blacklist'

To help stem the tide of food crimes, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration last week published a list of companies and individuals who have been found to have violated food safety laws.  “Enterprises that are blacklisted will receive administrative punishment at the highest level and their executives will be banned from operating food businesses, according to a blacklist mechanism that took effect in March,” official Chinese media Xinhua recently reported.  Xinhua credits Gu Zhenhua, who serves as the deputy director of the Shanghai FDA, with setting up what the paper is calling a “food safety credibility system.”  Gu told Xinhua that businesses who disobey laws will lose credibility and have their market access restricted, while businesses that abide by the rules will “enjoy preferential policies.”  So far, Shanghai has blacklisted 13 individuals and two restaurants. The two outlawed restaurants, Fula Hotpot Restaurant and Zhenjiang Sichuan Restaurant, according to Xinhua, had used recycled soup in new hotpots served to customers. The report said, “The practice is harmful to health.” The four owners of those restaurants are also on the blacklist as individuals and will be forbidden from working in the food industry.  “Nine other individuals were blacklisted for selling dead pigs illegally and for selling industrial salt as table salt,” according to one report. “All the 13 people were given jail terms from one year to three years and a half.”  According to the paper, the Beijing municipal government also introduced a strict law and similar accountability system earlier this year. The new law that went into effect on April 1 means food producers or vendors will be banned from working in the industry for life if they are found producing or selling unsafe food.  Pictured: U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg visits Shanghai FDA. Photo courtesy of Shanghai FDA.