Something as vital as food safety should not be left to the occasional prying of reporters, who usually do not have the resources or knowledge for this kind of thing. Don't get me wrong. They are doing a great service for public health. But think about it. If professional inspectors did a good job, reporters would not need to carry hidden cameras and smuggle samples to testing labs. If reporters are having a field day on food safety, it can be inferred that those who should do it as a full-time job have failed in the first place.

    When a food poisoning scare breaks out, consumers consider themselves the victims, but producers those law-abiding ones who do not inject their poultry or fish with chemicals will be hurt just as badly, if not more. While the whole food category is banned and remaining products condemned, those whose livelihoods depend on it will take the heaviest toll as a result of the bad apples in their midst and the subsequent indiscriminate crackdown and mass panic.

    First of all, laws should be scientific. For example, the SK-II scare, though not food-related, showed that laws have to specify the exact level that should not be exceeded by a certain component. The public should be aware that in the real world nothing is pure, and hazard ensues only when the object consumed reaches a certain quantity.

    But more often, it is the implementation that should be improved. Unscrupulous merchants would do anything to make a quick buck, and officials protecting consumer safety should be on constant alert to new ways of tampering with products, especially food items, which affect virtually everybody.

    It will be a sign of victory for food safety officials when reporters with hidden cameras have a hard time finding story leads for exposes on this topic.

    (Source: chinadaily.com.cn)