Many still wary of food safety in China: survey

A mother takes her child to a doctor in Shanghai following news of the melamine milk powder scandal in 2008. (File photo/Xinhua)

New research has shown people in China remain concerned about the country's food safety, reports the Beijing-based legal paper Mirror, citing a study conducted by the Center for Public Opinion Research at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The survey results released on May 16 showed that only 17.8% of interviewees expressed satisfaction or slight satisfaction with the government's current safety controls, in contrast with 32.9% of those worried about the ongoing issue. Urban inhabitants in 35 cities were asked to take part in the survey and 8,500 valid questionnaires were obtained.

A total 68% of the interviewees consider food processing stage the most worrisome problem, and 32% have experienced issues relating to food safety. Meanwhile, the survey showed a consensus that dairy, agricultural products, manufactured meat, seafood, alcohol and edible oil are all regarded as more prone to severe food safety incidents.

The survey also showed that up to 39% of the interviewees have no understanding of genetically modified food, 32.7% are unwilling to eat GM foods, and 35.8% are concerned about the issue. Male respondents were more open to GM food than women, while the younger the interviewee, the more likely he or she was to accept GM food.

The State Council recently passed its latest amendment of the country's Food Safety Law. However, the issue remains a major concern for people in China following a string of high profile cases, including KFC China being found using chicken tainted with high levels of antibiotics and hormones in 2012, and most notably the melamine milk powder scandal in 2008 that caused hundreds of thousands of infants to develop kidney stones, resulting in six deaths.wantchinatimes