Regional authorities unite to improve food safety
A food safety agreement is signed by authorities in the Yangtze River Delta region to enhance food safety cooperation in the area.
Officials from food watchdogs in the Yangtze River Delta region initiate the construction of the food safety information tracing platform in the area.
A food safety information tracking platform covering the Yangtze River Delta region will be established by the end of 2020, authorities announced on Thursday.
Construction of the platform was initiated on Thursday and it will cover 10 varieties of foods such as pork, rice, soybean oil, frozen chicken, baby formula, and vegetables like tomato, potato and pepper, the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation said.
The first batch of trial cities to use the platform will be Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuxi, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Hefei, according to the administration. Eventually, the platform will expand to the entire region.
The system will allow consumers to get information about their foods' producers, suppliers, production location, safety testing results and production date by scanning QR codes, said Xu Jin, deputy director of the administration.
"It will rely on big data and artificial intelligence technology to form a complete network of food safety information tracking," Xu said.
Food and market watchdogs in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces also signed a cooperation agreement in Shanghai on Thursday, enabling sharing of food safety data.
Under the agreement, a unified food safety information database will be established in the region and food watchdogs will conduct joint crackdowns on food violations based on data from the tracking system.
The aim is to lift the comprehensive food safety level in the whole region for better integrated development, said Xu.
