Food overseers put to the test
- Source: Global Times
- [08:33 March 28 2011]
- Comments
Chefs at a restaurant near Sanlitun prepare food in the kitchen Sunday. The knowledge of about 12,000 Beijing food safety administrators was tested on Saturday for the first time. Photo: Wang Zi/GT
By Wei Na
About 12,000 food safety administrators from local restaurants and catering businesses were tested on food safety laws on Saturday, the first such exam since the Food Safety Law was enacted on June 1, 2009, according to the official website of the Beijing Health Inspection office (BJHI).
The 26th article of the Food Safety Law requires that all restaurants, meat and vegetable markets and dining halls assign internal staff to be trained and responsible for food safety. Restaurants that violate the regulation by not having at least one administrator could be fined 2,000 yuan ($304.98), according to the law.
Mao Yu, vice director of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, which oversees the inspection office, told the Beijing News that currently there are around 60,000 administrators working for 40,000 food service providers.
The one-fifth of the total who were tested this time were volunteers, but the office is considering holding the test annually for all administrators.
"This is our first citywide test, though we had a few pilot exams in some restaurants before. For details and future plans, we need to wait and see," Cai Changqing, director of BJHI's publicity center, told the Global Times.
The test covers four sections, including articles of the law, food safety basics, food safety management knowledge and prevention and control of food poisoning.
For participants like Sun, a branch manager with a well-known fast food chain, the test took less than 30 minutes.
"The questions were really basic, as long as you pay attention to the news," he said, giving an example of what items are acceptable for a restaurant to purchase for use.
"Coarse salt was surely the only purchasable article, but not Sudan Red [a carcinogenic red dye] or shouroujing [clenbuterol, a banned chemical that causes pigs to accumulate more lean muscle and less fat, but that can cause dizziness and heart palpitations in humans]. And the hygienic standards are all covered in the routine of my daily job, so I know it all."
Sun admitted that he had never attended any specific training on the subject, and that all he has been asked to do is pass the recent "pretty easy" test.
If Sun passes, he will obtain a certificate of food safety management, which will qualify him as a food safety "administrator" for three years. His information will be collected in a digital file managed by the health inspection authorities, who will update him via e-mail or SMS with related laws and tips on how to prevent food poisoning.
