Dairy New National Standard Promulgated: Final Criticism of Key Criteria

Who is setting food safety standards? Experts talk about the introduction of a new national standard for dairy products This reporter Huang Bimei's core reading "The internal waiting list makes it clear that the drafting unit for the Pasteur's Milk Standard is the Mengniu Dairy Group. The raw milk standard was drafted by Yili Group. The yogurt standard was drafted by the Guangming Group."

——Zeng Shouyi, deputy director of the Dairy Industry Committee of the China Dairy Association, participated in the seminar on the formulation of relevant dairy products four times. “I still don’t understand that the review draft formed was repeatedly discussed. Some of these key criteria were finally decided. overthrow?"

Wei Ronglu, executive vice president of the Western Dairy Association, participated in the seminar on formulation of relevant dairy standards three times. "I have nothing to say now." "What's the use?"

- Many dairy experts who participated in the standard-setting seminar who are leading the development of China's food safety standards?

The “Administrative Measures on National Food Safety Standards” adopted in September 2010 stipulated that the Ministry of Health shall be responsible for the preparation (repair) of national standards for food safety. The Ministry of Health organizes the establishment of a food safety national standards review committee to review the draft national standards for food safety.

Judging from the list of members of this review committee, among the 14 people currently serving as the undersecretary-general or above, 9 are from the Ministry of Health and its affiliated Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 3 from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. One was from the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine and one from the National Standardization Administration.

What are some aspects of the introduction of a food safety standard?

The reporter interviewed experts involved in formulating safety standards for dairy products and asked them to tell us about the introduction of the relevant national standards for dairy products.

After the standard drafting unit finally failed to announce the outbreak of the “melamine incident,” it became a consensus to reformulate the national standards for dairy safety. In December 2008, the Ministry of Health took the lead, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Standards Committee, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the China CDC, the Light Industry Federation, the China Dairy Industry Association, and China Milk. Industry associations and other units established a coordination group to integrate and improve the national standards for dairy safety.

The various departments of the coordination group recommended nearly 70 experts to form an expert group. Wang Zhutian, deputy director of the Center for Food and Nutrition of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, served as the head of the group.

Wang Zhutian introduced in the April 2010 issue of the Chinese Journal of Food Hygiene. The coordination group is responsible for the negotiation of major issues in the work. The expert group is responsible for proposing dairy safety standards. In addition, a secretariat is set up to take charge of the specific organization and coordination and daily work. According to reports, during this period, nearly 600 people participated in the research and discussions of the working groups, drafting groups, and expert groups.

In February 2010, the first food safety national standards review committee convened meetings of sub-committees to review draft national standards on dairy safety. After deliberation by the director meeting, 66 national standards for dairy safety were adopted. The new National Standard for Dairy Safety was approved by the Ministry of Health on March 26.

Zeng Shouyi, deputy director of the Dairy Industry Committee of the China Dairy Association, participated in the above-mentioned standard seminar four times. According to his recollection: “The number of participants in the previous sessions was close to 100. The relevant ministries, milk associations, well-known dairy companies, universities and research institutes all participated.”

Regarding the proportion of participants, Wei Ronglu, executive vice president of the Western Dairy Association and professor at Southwest University for Nationalities, who participated in the discussion three times, expressed some opinions: “1/3 of the participants are from foreign companies.”

As regards specific drafting units and individuals, the standards for milk products such as raw milk and sterilized milk announced in 2010 and government announcements were not specifically introduced. In 2005, the Health Ministry and the National Standards Commission released the pasteurized and sterilized milk hygiene standards. The preface part disclosed that the standards were drafted in nine local health and epidemic prevention stations in Nanjing, Tianjin, and Nanning, and the main drafters were Tang Shishu and 9 others. .

The two key standards at the last minute come back to recall the process of formulating a new national standard for dairy products. Wei Ronglu has some regrets: “I still don’t understand that the repeated drafts of the draft for review, some of the key criteria, were eventually overturned?”

Similar to Wei Ronglu, there is Zeng Shouyi who has been dealing with milk for nearly 60 years. According to Zeng Shouyi, he graduated from the Nanjing Agricultural College in the 1950s and entered the Nanjing Milk Meat Management Institute. Later, he retired from the Nanjing Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 1962, Zeng Shouyi began to participate in the formulation of milk standards. In the past standard formulation, Zeng Shouyi was deputy head of the National Milk and Dairy Products Calibration Group of the Ministry of Health.

In May 2009, Zeng Shouqi began to intervene in the formulation of new dairy products. “The internal draft report shows that the drafting unit for the Pasteur's Milk Standard was the Mengniu Dairy Group. The raw milk standard was drafted by Yili Group, and the yogurt standard was drafted by the Guangming Group. ."

He said, “During the introduction of the new national standard for dairy products, I did not understand all aspects. I was only involved in several meetings in the middle and later stages. The early stage was the drafting of the draft for the company, the final stage was how to operate, and the key criteria for the review were sent. Why do I come back, I don't know."

The “critical standards” mentioned by the above-mentioned experts, that is, the total number of colonies and proteins that the public has paid close attention to.

On August 19, 2009, Wei Ronglu participated in the dairy standards discussion meeting for the last time. “Only a dozen people were involved in the conference. When he was the deputy director of the supervision bureau of the Ministry of Health, Su Zhi’s representative leaders heard opinions. Wang Zhutian presided over the meeting, Zeng Shouyi, and Gu Jiasheng (originally). (Daily Secretary-General of the Shanghai Dairy Association) and other experts all attended. At this meeting, I did not see the representative of the company."

At this meeting, under the leadership of several dairy experts, a standard of no more than 500,000 raw milk per gram of raw milk and no less than 2.95 grams of protein per 100 grams of raw milk was agreed to form a final draft. Since then, Zeng, Wei, Gu and the trio have no longer intervened in dairy labeling work.

However, in the program officially announced in March 2010, the colony was relaxed to 2 million and the protein was reduced to 2.8 grams. As to which part of the review draft was changed and why it was changed, Wei Ronglu and Zeng Shouyi said that they were not clear.

After the announcement of the new national standard for dairy products, it was bombarded by the media and the public: "China's dairy standards have created the world's worst standards, and standard formulation has been abducted by large companies."

During the interview, many dairy experts who participated in the standard-setting seminar chose not to stand by: "I have nothing to say now." "What's the use?" This is their reply to the reporter.

Experts called for the minutes of the open meeting. Concerns about food safety standards, dairy products are by no means unique.

Not long ago, S. aureus, SJ, and the three major dumpling brands at Wanchai Pier were all detected. Subsequently, the National Standard for Food Safety for Rapid Frozen Rice was released to allow the presence of Staphylococcus aureus. The moment the consumer was blindfolded: Another standard has gone backwards?

The Ministry of Health came forward to explain and during the standard-setting process, it held many seminars, extensively listened to opinions of relevant departments, industry associations, and enterprises, and publicly solicited opinions on the Ministry of Health website.

Similar explanations are also found in national standards for dairy safety. The standard has successively “convened more than 20 working meetings. The draft publicly solicited comments for 60 days and notified the WTO at the same time. During this period, more than 2,000 feedback comments were received both at home and abroad.”

However, the explanation of the authoritative department seems to be difficult to fundamentally eliminate the doubts of some experts and the public.

Regarding the standard of overthrowing 50 million raw milk colonies and 2.95 grams of protein in the end, Wei Ronglu asked people to inquire. "It is said that the coordination of the ministries and commissions, we do not know how to coordinate." He said.

An expert who participated in the New National Standards Symposium for Dairy Products and declined to be named publicly stated that the Ministry of Health had meeting minutes at that time, including who attended the meeting, and what opinions were presented and debated at the meeting. The whole process was clear at a glance.

“If the organizers are willing to disclose this information and show the reason why some of the conclusions of the revised manuscript are overturned, as long as they can convince everyone, the voice of questioning is not that big,” said the expert.

“The process is more democratic and transparent, and it is an important way to relieve public suspicions.” Song Songnian, president of the Administrative Law Research Association of China Law Society, said.

At the same time, he pointed out that “openness and transparency are not omnipotent, and public emotions are not completely rational. If during the discussion, some experts suggested that a certain index is harmful, but after a lot of argumentation and research prove that it is actually harmless, the last standard adopted a relative science. In this case, even if the entire process is transparent, the public may still question: Why not adopt the expert's opinion, why not adopt stricter standards?"

Ying Songnian emphasized that experts in the industry are knowledgeable and that the entire bidding process should be at least transparent to experts. If they are convinced, there will be no opposing opinion leaders, and the implementation of the new standard will be smoother. If there is a big difference between the decision-making and the expert's opinion, the argumentation meeting should be reconvened to avoid the "black-box operation".