Experts Call for Professional Media Reports and Proper Official Approach on Food Safety Issue

Experts are saying that unprofessional media reports and inappropriate official remarks are heating public concerns about food safety in China.

The remark comes amid a week-long national campaign, which aims to publicize knowledge and regulations regarding food safety.

Wu Jia has more.

Various activities promoting knowledge on food safety have been held around the country during this week.

Among them, a press conference on the use of food additives held in Beijing has attracted a lot of attention, after food containing cancer-inducing additives were found on the market.

Zhang Jianbo is a researcher from the Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, at the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

He said at the conference that not all food additives are dangerous to human health and China has strict regulations regarding their use.

"Food additives are required to be tested on animals to find the maximum volume for safe human consumption. Even if we eat them everyday in our lives, as long as the total volume is no more than the suggested standard, it isn't dangerous."

However, official explanations haven't been able to allay public concerns, with many still worrying about their daily food.

Xu Ruicheng, a Beijing resident, says he is worried after seeing a just-released official data.

"Though I haven't been involved in any actual cases, I do notice the reports stating that 60 percent of food additives can not be detected in tests. I'm worried about how they would affect my health."

Food safety incidents in recent years, such as the tainted milk powder which killed 6 infants and made nearly 300 thousands others ill, are caused by intentional contamination by food producers.

But experts point out that on the other hand, media reports on food scandals has, to a certain extent, exacerbated the anxiety.

Unconfirmed media reports have led to confusion in the past, including an incident last year when the public was frightened by media exposure regarding the consumption of recycled used cooking oil, while experts insisted that it was not practical because the recycled oil is even more expensive than normal cooking oil.

Professor Shi Anbin is Deputy Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University.

He says that a lack of professional health journalism is part of the reason for the current anxieties about food safety.

"In some countries health journalism is a specific major for reporters, while in China many journalists reporting food safety issues have no such educational background. Journalists sometimes lack related knowledge and some experts are not good at making professional terms easily understood, so I think that's why many experts' opinions are not conveyed correctly by the media."

Professor Shi Anbin says that officials should also have proper understanding and approach on this issue.

During the conference on food additives, a spokesman from the Ministry of Public Health talked about proposals to blacklist journalists who are responsible for false reports on food safety. The remark caused an immediate outcry.

"He used the word blacklist improperly. It diverted public attention from the safe use of food additives to the issue of media supervision. The press conference was held with the goal of promoting knowledge of food additives, but it failed due to this inappropriate publicity strategy."

As for ensuring food safety is at the top of the government's agenda, Professor Shi stresses that media supervision can be an effective way to complete this task - but only through objective, professional and responsible coverage and reports.

For CRI, this is Wu Jia.