On March 11, 2015 Wu Xiangdong, Deputy to the National People’s Congress and Chairman of VATS GROUP accepted joint interviews from dozens of media. He said counterfeiting as well as sale and peddling of counterfeits still remained as the most highlighted problems in food safety. He called for amendments to Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as “Criminal Law”), and abolished sentencing threshold for food counterfeiting and sale of counterfeits.

Loopholes have existed in Article CXL of the Criminal Law that sentencing threshold should be cancelled in case each time of counterfeiting and sale of counterfeits exceed RMB 50,000.

Reporter: As far as I know, your proposal this year concerns improvements in criminal sentencing due to endangering food and drug safety, why have your proposals focused on food safety in the successive three years?

Wu Xiangdong: I have been engaged in the food sector for nearly 20 years; as a Deputy to the National People’s Congress, my proposal has always been focusing on the food safety.

In my first proposal, I called for attaching great importance to food safety across China, and I made nine specific suggestions. In recent years, our country has emphasized the food safety, reinforced the supervision and achieved good effects.

In my second proposal in 2014 NPC&CPPCC, I focused on the food safety in rural areas. Through one year of practice, our country has toughened the food supervision.

In my third proposal in 2015, I put forward another important topic –amendments to the Criminal Law. Through two years of observation, I have found out many people in China are still suffering from the rather rampant counterfeiting of food and drug, as well as sale and peddling of counterfeits. This is the result of many reasons. One of the crucial reasons is the inaction in many local supervision departments. After my investigations, I discovered the inaction was caused by loopholes in our Criminal Law that a sentencing threshold has been set up for counterfeiting of food and drug, as well as sale and peddling of counterfeits, namely, criterion for sentencing only worked when counterfeiting and sale of counterfeits reached RMB 50,000. Lawbreakers involved in counterfeiting food and drug seized the loopholes and controlled the amounts of counterfeiting and sale of counterfeits below RMB 50,000 each time. As a result, they avoided the sentencing; instead, they repeatedly got caught and released with a vicious circle. Therefore, at this time I work with our lawyer teams to complete the proposal together, and call for NPC’s amendments to the article in the Criminal Law: the threshold of RMB 50,000 should be cancelled for counterfeiting of food and drug, as well as sale and peddling of counterfeits; in case of any of them occurring, criterion for sentencing shall be implemented regardless of amounts. If the amendments can be conducted, lawbreakers involved in counterfeiting food and drug shall be punished according to the Criminal Law in the future, the counterfeiting will be effectively contained and common people can enjoy the more guaranteed food and drug safety.

VATS GROUP Taking a Leading Role in Food Safety with Its Guaranteed “Three Safety Lines”

Reporter: The manufacturing enterprises work as the first person responsible concerning food safety. VATS GROUP is a conglomerate engaged in food manufacturing and marketing, what are your practical actions to guarantee food safety?

Wu Xiangdong: We are working in the food sector, and we have been warned by the melamine incident a few years earlier. As for our enterprise, we have reinforced self-supervision and established three safety lines: checking raw materials, checking manufacturing processes, and comprehensively detecting all the products before leaving factory. Our equipment is so advanced that all the ingredients in the products can be detected. Besides the three safety lines, our subordinate 13 manufacturing enterprises have also established “System of Investigating the Responsible Person” in which each manufacturing enterprise has “The First Person Responsible” who shall shoulder the responsibilities once food safety problems occur.

In addition, each time after policies and regulations on food safety are modified or amended, all our manufacturing enterprises will immediately and seriously learn them. I can say responsibly that VATS GROUP has taken a leading role in food safety.

Moreover, I want to tell our consumers a common sense: actually we have the guaranteed food safety in many of our traditional foods as long as we insist on traditional techniques. Modern foods are the same. For example, the Americans have had Coca Cola for a long time and prove its safety in spite of dozens of additives in it. Therefore, we don’t have to be frightful toward “additives” or products made in China. Formal and law-abiding enterprises still deserve consumers’ trust.