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In addition to implementing the Food Safety Law through strict enforcement of the law, breach of duty by relevant personnel of the market supervision department should also be thoroughly investigated. Only with strict enforcement of the law and serious responsibility can the stimulating smell of sulfur dissipate from the market and from people’s hearts.
In addition to enforcing the Food Safety Act through strict enforcement of the law, breach of duty by the relevant staff of the market supervision department should also be thoroughly investigated. Only with strict enforcement of the law and serious responsibility can the stimulating smell of sulfur dissipate from the market and from people’s hearts.
Every August, wholesalers across the country rush to Santang Town, Nanning City, Guangxi to buy star anise. The Gaofeng Natural Spices Logistics Center here is the largest octagonal commercial market in the area, with a daily shipping volume of up to 300 tons. However, media investigations found that behind this huge volume of transactions, the octagonal market is being eaten up by the illegal “sulfur octagonal”. China’s “National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives” stipulates that sulfur can be used as a food additive, but star anise is not in its scope. And for some of the “sulfur octagonals” here, the test results showed that the sulfur dioxide exceeded the original national standard 16 times!
↑Star anise stacked in front of the store at Gaofeng Natural Spice Logistics Center in Nanning City, Guangxi. These star anise have been smoked with sulfur and have a tangy flavor. According to Beijing News
As a result, a shocking public secret was revealed: To shorten working hours and lower costs, most local businesses will use sulfur to smoke anise. To make a profit, wholesalers also buy sulfur star anise and sell it to restaurants and canteens around the world. And how common is this phenomenon? According to one buyer, “I cannot find the source of sulfur star anise if I want to buy sulfur-free star anise. There are not a few companies in the peak market. Now more than 90% of the domestic market is sulfur star anise.”
It remains to be investigated whether these claims are true or not. If as a central production area, the use of sulfur smoking has become an open secret, then you can also see the proliferation of star anise with sulfur. Also, although the degree of damage is doubtful, the sulfur content is quite high based on media tests. These sulfur anisees, which are sold nationwide and brought to the table, undoubtedly pose great hidden dangers to food safety.
For companies, the reason for ignoring the health risks of illegal smoking is simply because compared to normal drying, the construction period of this production method is shortened considerably, the cost is also cut in half, and can bring greater economic benefits. As a result, the bad money drives out the good money, which not only smokes the star anise, but also derives a secret service dedicated to the drying market.
It is worth noting that the octagonal problem of local sulfur has not been exposed for the first time. According to media reports, in 2012 Guangxi launched a special district-wide sulfur star anise rectification operation, however, a few years later, illegally smoking star anise with sulfur has once again become the norm in the industry.
Is this resurgence situation due to lack of testing or lack of industry standards? The answer is, of course, no. Although the enhanced national standard for star anise does not indicate restricted sulfur content, the “National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives” clearly mentions that star anise cannot use sulfur as an additive.
Violating the standard and smoking illegally has violated the Food Safety Act. In this situation, the most important question is, given such a wide range of violations, why did the local authorities fail to take timely action?
The report mentioned that someone had denounced the market supervision and management department, but the response received was that “it is difficult to obtain evidence and difficult to manage”. That answer seems more like an excuse. Sulfur-smoked star anise is almost an open secret in the town, the smell of sulfur fills the air, so “after being on the market for a long time, your throat will go silent.” Why is it “difficult to obtain evidence”? Non-local media that are unfamiliar with the situation can still restore market chaos through investigation, and the territorial oversight function that is most familiar with the local situation does not even have this investigative capacity.
Is it “uncontrollable” or is the laziness of law enforcement indulging indirectly? On this topic, there are some details that are worth paying attention to. For example, the report mentioned that in the largest octagonal trading market, managers are completely invisible and many traders do not even know the location of the market managers’ offices; For example, some traders said: “The market will notify in advance when checking..”
The details of this lack of oversight are by no means “hard to obtain and unwieldy evidence” that can be removed at once. It also explains why traders dare to take risks and why the largest octagonal trading market has been filled with sulfur.
In any case, after the media exposure, the local area no longer has an excuse to simply ignore it, and there must come a great rectification from the industry to respond to social concerns. What merchants smoke illegally? What are the illegal links in the sulfur anise sales chain? Where did the star anise question finally go? These problems must be investigated and managed in a systematic way.
At the same time, in addition to putting the Food Safety Law into practice through strict enforcement of the law, the breach of duty by the relevant staff of the market supervision department should also be thoroughly investigated. Only with strict enforcement of the law and serious responsibility can the stimulating smell of sulfur dissipate from the market and from people’s hearts.
Red Star News Special Commenter Xiong Zhi
Edit Wang Yintao
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