Food adulteration laws need more teeth to ensure safe food supply
Attention please: the next time you go out to buy mutton, be careful. You may end up purchasing rat or fox meat masquerading as mutton. Shocking, but it's true. Around 20,000 tonnes of rat meat have been sold in the name of lamb meat in the Chinese market so far this year alone. The truth came to light only after Chinese officials began an investigation in January, that too after around 20,000 dead pigs were found floating in a river. Since then, 904 suspects have been arrested and 1,721 factories across China, have been sealed. The Chinese Public Security Ministry revealed that meat dealers have made more than £1 million by selling fake meat packed as mutton and as related products. What is even more galling is that the scandal is not limited to China alone. Counterfeit meat is a common phenomenon across the globe.
Mao Shoulong, a professor at Renmin University in Beijing, highlighted in his report that “The United States and Europe can’t eradicate these problems either, but they are even more complicated in China.” The ongoing European horse meat scandal is a case in point. In many European countries like the UK, Sweden, France and Ireland, horse meat is being falsely tagged as beef. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland recently confirmed that Tesco’s beef burger contains around 29 per cent of horse DNA. In another report, Stellenbosch University stated in its study that donkey meat was found in South African burgers. The Dutch government too has started an investigation and has recalled 50,000 tonnes of meat (500 million burgers) sold as beef across Europe. In Japan, dolphin and porpoise meat have been illegally traded as whale meat. The Glasgow City Council's environmental services found in an investigation that butchers are selling beef as lamb.
The unnerving part is that the racket has been going on despite the existence of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act in almost every country worldwide. The Act is meant to ensure food safety and curtail food adulteration. But obviously, it has failed to serve its mandate. The 2008 Chinese milk scandal, which victimised around 300,000 people, is the most infamous among all. Even the ongoing meat scandal raises concerns on the credibility and effectiveness of the Act. Clearly, what is required is a holistic and global initiative towards combating adulterated food products. This scandal may not have caused major health problems, but it surely hurts the religious sentiments of many.
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