On February 28, 2009, China upgraded its 1995 food hygiene law by passing a new law creating a food safety commission which can increase compensation to those harmed by tainted food or impose severe penalties on those involved with producing and promoting tainted food products. The new law is intended to improve China’s food safety and to reassure consumers of Chinese food products (both domestically and internationally), particularly after tainted food scandals that that shook confidence in Chinese producers last year. FPA’s China blog recently posted an article that discusses the proposed structure for the commission.
A Time magazine article questions the effectiveness of the new law because it places food safety oversight into the hands of too many Chinese government agencies and will take a long time to put into action.
