SHANGHAI, China, April 16. WITH a variety of concerns being voiced regarding food safety issues in China, the Shanghai World Championships have announced a five-part response to better food security for the World Championships this summer. These steps include the creation of a Food Safety Department.
Here is the complete release from Shanghai regarding the steps it plans on taking to ensure food safety and security during the meet:
The 14th FINA World Championships will be held from July 16 to July 31 in Shanghai, China. To ensure the success of the world's top aquatic sports competition, the Chinese government and Shanghai government will attend to the people's concerns, enforce the laws and regulations of food safety, and tighten food safety supervision according to international practices in order to ensure the food safety for the athletes and spectators of this competition
The officials of Shanghai government and the Organizing Committee of the 14th FINA World Championships have held many meetings recently with related experts to discuss the details for supervising food safety. The Organizing Committee has concluded the following five measures
1. Establish a Food Safety Department
To ensure the food safety during the competition, Shanghai government and General Administration of Sport of China ordered that a food safety department be set up in the Organizing Committee of the 14th FINA World Championships in order to coordinate the work concerning food safety and take effective measures to ensure food safety for athletes and spectators present. At present, this food safety department composed of Shanghai Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory authorities has started the work and commenced the supervision in an all-round way, and has made a working plan for the food safety to ensure the successful holding of the competition
2. Strengthen the supervision on the raw materials of food in the official hotels
Shanghai is an international metropolis, and its food safety regulatory authorities and tourism supervision department adhere to the international standard and conduct rigorous tests on the supplied food in the official hotels for the 14th FINA World Championships. The organizing committee has made it clear that the official hotels to accommodate the participants of the competition should improve their food safety management measures, regulate the food handling processes and choose qualified food producers and sellers as their raw material suppliers so as to ensure the safety of raw materials of the food
3. Give a priority to the strengthening of the supervision on the whole process for food safety
Shanghai food safety regulatory authorities keep strengthening the supervision system of the whole process — from farm to fork. From the raising of livestock in a farm to the slaughter for sale, from wholesale to food processing, every step is under supervision and traceable
4. Tighten the supervision over the food safety around the city
Shanghai will tighten the supervision over the food safety around the city by intensifying the inspections over hotels and restaurants near the stadiums, as well as main tourist resorts and commercial areas to ensure that the food is supplied in a safe and orderly manner around the city
5. Well respond to the emergencies
The relevant departments of the Organizing Committee have made a response plan to act immediately food safety emergencies. In case that food-borne disease is suspected or threats to food safety occur, the Organizing Committee will immediately start the working plans in response to emergency and give a priority to the dealing with the problem in order to prevent the emergencies affecting the competition or other important activities from happening