After the baby milk food scandal, the latest draft of the food safety law has set stricter standards and given greater responsibility to the government. The draft requires all health departments to follow safety standards on the use of food additives and ban all harmful chemicals in food products.

Liu Xirong, deputy director of the NPC Law Committee, said on the first day of the six-day session, “Many legislators have suggested the wide, and even illegal use of additives poses a big threat to food safety. So the law should have clear stipulations on that.” He also said the latest draft requires departments to implement risk assessments and sets strict standards in every step during the process.

After being fed milk food contaminated with melamine, at least four infants died and 54,000 were diagnosed with urinary ailments, including kidney stones. What is more, according to the notice published by the Health Ministry on its website on Wednesday, 3,654 children are still suffering from various ailments, with three of them are serious.

Since the scandal first broke out in Shi Jiazhuang, and the failure in dealing with the problem of Hebei provincial capital’s administration, the draft emphasizes the responsibilities of local governments to supervise the entire food safety procedure and ensure that small firms follow them strictly. It also empowers the government to ban the sale of and recall unsafe food products if a company fails to do so voluntarily after its products are found contaminated. No products can be exempted from government quality checks, no reports should be delayed and no attempts should be made to cover up scandals.

Primary responsibility has been given to local health departments to handle food safety emergencies. At the same time, other departments need to report immediately when they come across food safety incidents.

Liu said new points have been added to prevent food scares and handle food safety incidents better.

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