Source: Economic Daily
Now may be the closest time for consumers to "cherry freedom" – the price of cherries on the market has recently dropped sharply, more than half as cheaper than in previous years. Behind the price diving, on the one hand, because of the sharp increase in the production of foreign cherries this year, on the other hand, because the outer packaging of cherries has been tested positive for nucleic acid, many people have given up buying for safety reasons.
Experts have long given the answer as to whether cherries are safe. For example, the press conference of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council pointed out that the positive nucleic acid detection of food does not mean that it is contagious; Wu Zunyou, chief expert of epidemiology of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that as long as you pay attention to hand hygiene and wash with running water before eating fruit, there should be no risk of infection.
After imported cherries arrive in China, they are subject to strict inspection and quarantine by customs, including nucleic acid testing and disinfection, and implement policies related to electronic traceability codes. Many sales companies have also set higher epidemic prevention standards and carried out secondary disinfection of all imported goods, including cherries.
Cherry safety is actually not a problem, consumers dare not buy with peace of mind is the real problem. Whether it is the explanation of experts, industry associations or enterprises, in reality, they have not been able to "convince the public". Even if the merchant postes the inspection and quarantine certificate, disinfection certificate and the warehouse on-site epidemic prevention actual shooting, consumers are still half-convinced.
At present, it is the eve of the Spring Festival, and the online and offline New Year Goods Festival is in full swing. However, the international epidemic has led some consumers to have doubts about imported cold chain goods such as cherries, salmon and king crabs that have been sold in previous years, and enterprises in the supply chain are facing operational risks. The issue of peace of mind has become an obstacle on the road to promoting consumption. At this time, the relevant departments should make a difference, may wish to use a nationwide special spot check, to give consumers a clear answer.
From the perspective of departmental responsibilities, The State Administration of Market Regulation in China is responsible for organizing food safety supervision and sampling, risk monitoring, verification and disposal, risk early warning, and risk exchange. In terms of feasibility, every week the State Administration for Market Regulation will organize food safety supervision and sampling inspections and publish the results through the official website, which is the most authoritative voice channel for food safety and the most trusted source of information for consumers. In 2020, the national market supervision department completed a total of 6.9 million batches of food sampling and monitoring, and there was no technical obstacle to carrying out special spot checks of certain foods. According to merchants, recently the health and epidemic prevention department and the market supervision department have been paying great attention to imported food, often to the enterprise for inspection and quarantine, daily spot checks, but this information has not been summarized and published.
In the past practice, the supervision of food was mainly during and after the event, and it was often after the emergence of major problems that a huge special rectification was carried out. For daily spot checks, the circular focuses on naming and criticizing, and media reports focus on what unqualified food has been detected. Although the deterrent effect is good, consumers still lack timely and complete information on food safety.
Food safety is no small matter, and it is necessary to find problems in a timely manner and strengthen supervision. Deepening the reform of "decentralization service" to this day, the service awareness of administrative departments should also be strengthened - when consumers are highly concerned and lack information, food safety spot checks as a means of supervision can not only find problems, but also answer questions. Take Chelizi, how the quality is, whether the safety is guaranteed, the results of the random inspection by the regulatory authorities are the most convincing.
Of course, in extraordinary times, there will be pressure to carry out special spot checks of sensitive commodities, and it will also test the ability of regulatory departments to administer according to law and coordinate supervision, but to create an environment for safe consumption and timely bailouts for market entities, regulatory departments should dare to take responsibility and be active.
The Regulations on Optimizing the Business Environment, which came into effect this year, clearly stated that the state will continue to deepen the reform of simplifying administration and decentralization, combining decentralization and management, and optimizing services, so as to stimulate market vitality and social creativity and enhance development momentum. Recently, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Action Plan for Building a High-Standard Market System, which also emphasizes the need to give better play to the role of the government, firmly grasp the strategic base point of expanding domestic demand, and promote market quality and efficiency. Among them, it is also specifically mentioned to establish and improve the coordination and cooperation mechanism between industry regulatory departments and comprehensive regulatory departments, and promote the normalization of joint "double random, one open" supervision by departments. In response to market expectations, deepen reform with the trend, and let consumers feel at ease with Chelizi, the regulatory authorities should take the initiative to realize the transformation from passive supervision to active supervision at an early date, from after-the-fact governance to pre-event prevention.
Source/ Economic Daily (reporter She Ying), the original title of "Chelizi Peace of Mind" needs to be supervised and escorted"