Editor: Rui Zhao
As the saying goes, the people take food as the sky, and food takes safety as the first. Safety is the minimum requirement for food consumption, but with the continuous development of China's social economy, more and more types of food, some unscrupulous businesses are mercenary in order to completely disregard national laws, business ethics bottom line, the light is not in accordance with the standard production in the process of food production, cutting corners, the heavy is the abuse of additives in food, non-food raw materials, moldy raw materials to make raw materials processed food. Therefore, food safety issues have attracted more and more attention. The following is a typical case of the crime of producing and selling food that does not meet safety standards.
From November 2014 to September 2017, Qi used sodium nitrite in excess of the limit for a long time, processed and made cooked food pork head meat, and sold it. Recently, the local court pronounced a verdict on the owner of the delicatessen, Qi Mou, and sentenced him to one year in prison, suspended for one year, and fined 10,000 yuan for the crime of producing and selling food that did not meet safety standards. At the same time, Qi is prohibited from engaging in food production, sales and related activities during the probation period of probation.
First of all, when we talk about food safety, the first question is what is food?
Regarding the determination of food, Article 150 of the Food Safety Law stipulates that food refers to all kinds of finished products and raw materials for human consumption or drinking, as well as articles that are both food and Chinese medicinal materials according to tradition, but do not include articles for therapeutic purposes.
It can be seen that food "includes both general food, but also food additives, condiments, colors, preservatives, alcohol, beverages, etc."
Secondly, after clarifying the scope of food, it comes to the next question, what are the standards for food safety? Chapter 3 of the Food Safety Law specifically regulates "food safety standards".
Article 26 stipulates that food safety standards shall include the following contents: (1) limits on pathogenic microorganisms in food, food additives, food-related products, pesticide residues, veterinary drug residues, biotoxins, heavy metals and other polluting substances and other substances that endanger human health; (2) the variety, scope of use, and dosage of food additives.
In addition, this chapter also stipulates the departments that formulate food safety standards, the supervision departments, the filing departments, and the basis for formulating safety standards.
Finally, how is the crime of producing and selling food that does not meet safety standards regulated in the Criminal Law?
Article 143 of the Criminal Law stipulates that whoever produces or sells food that does not meet food safety standards, which is sufficient to cause a serious food poisoning accident or other serious foodborne disease, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also be fined; if he causes serious harm to human health or has other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined; if the consequences are particularly serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than seven years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have his property confiscated.
So, in this case, what is the substance of sodium nitrite that Qi mou used excessively in the processing and making of cooked food pork head meat?
Sodium nitrite is actually a food additive, which is widely added to meat food, the main role is two, one is to make cured meat food look more colorful. The second is to prevent fresh meat from being gradually oxidized into gray-brown degenerated myoglobin in the air, while keeping meat products bright red. However, excessive use of nitrite in food can cause nitrite residues to enter the human body, thereby interacting with other substances in the human body to produce nitrosamines. The production of nitrosamines will bring irreversible harm to the health of consumers, and serious carcinogenesis.
After the above analysis, it can be seen that it is of great significance to strengthen food safety quality control. In addition, economic entities in the market must also assume their own social responsibilities, and the growth of economic interests should not be premised on ignoring the lives and health of others. Orderly and benign competition should be to ensure food safety under the premise of legal compliance to enhance economic benefits.