BEIJING, Dec 15, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- China says it's cracking down on food
additives, banning 17 and warning producers it is intent on restoring public
trust in the country's food system.
Officials Monday unveiled the blacklist of banned additives, including
substances from past food recalls such as melamine, used in infant milk formula,
and the cancer-causing industrial dye Sudan red, used to color egg yolks.
New additives also were banned, Xinhua, the state-run Chinese news agency,
reported. Those included carbon monoxide, industrial methanol, and opium poppy
capsules, a plant from which opium can be extracted.
Notice of the crackdown was published after an extensive joint investigation led
by the Chinese Health Ministry, the State Food and Drug Administration and seven
other government departments.
The warning was aimed mostly at small food producers, Xinhua said. About 500,000
small companies, most with 10 employees or fewer, account for much of China's
diet and they are often under-supervised and do not have self-discipline
systems, officials say.
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