河南科技学院新科学院2012届本科毕业生论文（设计）英文文献及翻译Why China Struggles with Food Safety学生姓名：杨金微所在院系：经济与管理系所学专业：国际经济与贸易导师姓名：董家强（讲师）完成时间：2012年3月20日Why China Struggles with Food SafetyLaurie Burkitt（美国《华尔街日报》作者）Ink, dye, bleach, wax and toxic chemicals: These are just a few of the substances that have been found recently in food products in China, reigniting fears over food safety despite repeated government pledges to crack down on tainted eats.Why is China having such trouble making its food safe?Chinese lawmakers passed new food-safety legislation meant to tighten supervision of manufacturers and impose tougher penalties on those who make bad products as the government seeks to restore public confidence after a spate of problems with tainted food.The new law, approved by the standing committee of the National People's Congress on Saturday after years of drafting and revision, also sets up a system to recall problem products and authorizes the enforcement of uniform nationwide standards for everything from allowable additives to nutritional labeling.United Nations public-health experts last year called for an overhaul of China's food-safety system, saying that the country's 'disjointed' approach and reliance on a patchwork of various local and national government agencies to police the food supply had contributed to troubles such as the melamine adulteration.The law passed Saturday aims to streamline regulation, in part by creating a national food-safety commission to coordinate work by other government agencies, and by reducing the number of agencies involved. But responsibility for developing standards and enforcing them will remain split among various ministries.Food safety consistently ranks among the top concerns of Chinese citizens in opinion polls. The government is eager to be seen as protecting the food supply, in the face of regular and well-publicized problems. Late last month, for instance, pig organs contaminated with a banned steroid sickened dozens of people in the southern city of GuangzhouWhile China is no stranger to food scandals, a spate of food contamination cases brought to light over the past month has been shocking even to the most jaded of observers here. Over the past few days, health authorities in the southern province of Guangdong shut down 17 noodle makers after they were discovered mixing ink and wax to their dough. Meanwhile, over the weekend, nearly 300 people in the city of1Changsha were reportedly sickened after eating meat contaminated with the banned 'skinny meat' additive clenbuterol, the subject of a meat industry crackdown in March. In perhaps the most bizarre case, also in Changsha, a number of consumers earlier this month walked into their kitchens at night to discover their store-bought pork was glowing in the dark.U.S. food and drug regulators are requesting Beijing's help in implementing a new food-safety law requiring stricter oversight of exported food, a sign of China's growing importance as a food exporter for Americans.U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials are seeking increased data sharing with China and other big trading partners to identify and prevent high-risk problems in food trade, said Dara Corrigan, associate commissioner for regulatory affairs of the FDA, at a news briefing . 'Transparency on both sides is critical,' she said.The move comes as the U.S. looks to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act, a law passed in January requiring food importers to verify the safety of their food from suppliers. Regulators said the law is aimed at preventing food contamination rather than responding to it. It relies heavily on the cooperation of other countries. The U.S. runs a fat trade surplus with China in agricultural products due in part to China's appetite for American soybeans, but China is increasingly providing food for U.S. dinner tables. Major exports include processed vegetables and fruit juices.U.S. officials at the beginning of this year have sought China's suggestions on how to implement the law's requirements.China has been strengthening oversight of food over the past few years, but food safety remains a big issue, even three years after milk contaminated with the chemical melamine caused the deaths of at least six children and illnesses in 300,000 others. China currently lacks enforcement of its food-safety laws and has an insufficient number of inspectors, said Li Tairan, a director of food safety at the Ministry of Health, at a food-safety conference.Beijing has struggled with food safety for years. The problem appeared to come to a head in 2008, when milk tainted with the industrial chemical melamine killed at least six children, sickened tens of thousands of others in 2008 and appeared to shock the government into taking decisive action. But the melamine eventually reappeared in the Chinese food supply, along with a host of other chemicals and illegal additives, leading many observers to wonder why China can't seem to solve such a fundamental problem.2One of the biggest issues is the drive to make a buck at any cost, says Lester Ross, a Beijing-based attorney with U.S. law firm WilmerHale. Some companies see that by using additives, they can cut overhead costs or boost profit margins, and they merely aren't thinking about the affects the additives will have on consumers, Mr. Ross says. The answer to that, according to Mr. Ross, is an education blitz. China has the ability to plaster its subways, bus stations and even television screens with messages and advertising that lets all people know the dangers involved using chemical additives in food.Local media reports of illnesses related to chemical consumption have helped, Mr. Ross says. A flood of news stories in recent days have informed Chinese consumers that meat containing clenbuterol may be leaner, but it may also cause headaches, nausea, and heart palpitations, while vegetables with sodium nitrite may grow faster, but they can also cause cancer.In a push for greater clarity, China's Ministry of Health is planning to revise and make public its list of legal food additives by the end of the year, while also publishing a black list of illegal additives, the state run China Daily reports.But education is only part of the problem. Another issue, according to Mr. Ross, is that there are too many cooks in the kitchen -- or rather too many bureaucracies handling food safety. The Ministry of Health is the lead agency on food safety issues, he explains, but the State Administration for Industry and Commerce is also involved, as are the State Food and Drug Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture. Struggles with food safety are not a specifically Chinese problem. Many countries, including the U.S. and Japan, have gone through similar growing pains in the food industry, says Wu Ming, a professor at Beijing University's school of public health. Sanitation and contamination issues permeated the food manufacturing and processing U.S. in the late-19th century. As China law scholar Stanley Lubman recently noted, it wasn't until 1906, when Upton Sinclair published 'The Jungle,' a book that unveiled the horrific standards of meat-packing plants of Chicago, that the U.S. began to wake up to its food safety problems.The big difference between the U.S. and China is size, Ms. Ming says, adding that the quantity of companies involved in China's food industry will make for tougher regulatory obstacles.'It's impossible to lessen such problems overnight,' Mrs. Ming said. 'It will take many years.'3中国人吃上安全食品为何这么难Laurie Burkitt（美国《华尔街日报》作者）墨汁、染料、漂白、石蜡和有毒化学物质：这些只是其中几样最近在中国食品中发现的物质。