Food safety incidents reported by streamline media in 2013 in China / 上海预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To provide reference to food safety supervision and management by analyzing the characteristics and trends of food safety incidents reported by media in 2013 in china.Methods Data were collected and collated from food safety incidents reported by printed media,major web portals,news websites and public opinion reports of the government during 2013.1.1 and 2013.12.31 with their occurrence characteristics and trends studied.Results Food safety incidents reported by media added up to 740 cases during 2013.1.1 and 2013.12.31 in China,of which the most reported was in Guangdong province,with 130accounting for 17.6% of the total,next followed by Shandong,Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.The number of incidents reported by months did not show an obvious trend,yet incidents occurred more frequently in September and October.As for related food types,164 incidents (22.2% of the total) related to poultry meat and meat products;snacks were involved in 53 incidents,accounting for 7.2% of the total.Nearly 2/3 of the incidents resulted from problems of production and processing links,among which 13.9% were from the production of primary agricultural products,10.2% and 8% from sales &circulation,and catering consumption respectively.About 40% of the food safety issues reported by media were related to circulation.As for nature of the incidents,pathogenic micro organisms,pesticides or veterinary drug residues and excessive contents of heavy metals was 22%,followed by processing with non-food raw materials or adding non-food chemicals.31.8% of hazards or potential hazards in reported food safety incidents during 2013 were food additives and illegal additives.Conclusion Food safety incidents involving meat,meat products and snacks had a relatively higher occurrence.Food production,processing and circulation became high risk links in food safety issues.Pathogenic micro organisms,pesticides or veterinary drug residues,excessive contents of heavy metals and violation of food additives management were relatively serious problems.Chemical hazard was one of the major hazards in food safety issues.