Imported food quality inspection difficult to use packaging

In recent years, due to the improvement of living standards and the rise of personalized consumption, imported food has gradually entered the homes of ordinary people in Wuhan. Statistics from large-scale supermarkets show that annual sales of imported foods have increased by more than 40%. The public’s impression is that imported foods that were previously only available in some foreign supermarkets or local supermarkets can now be bought in many street food outlets or fashion stores – one after another. "Imported food" stores have sprung up in three towns in Wuhan. However, the problem also followed.

According to the statistics of the 12315 Command Center of Wuhan City's Industrial and Commercial Bureau, only a total of 9 complaints were accepted for imported foods in 2010. Since 2011, as of October 25, 28 food complaints have been accepted, compared with 5 in the same period of last year. , increase 4.6 times. The main complaints were about domestic foods posing as imported foods for sale, lack of Chinese labels, and suspected purchases of fakes.

Is there any problem with imported food sold on the Wuhan market? How to identify imported food? What should I pay attention to when buying imported food? In the past few days, the reporter conducted tests and investigations, and visited relevant authorities to conduct a differential inspection.

Test time: October 24 - November 4

Witness the public: lawyer of Hubei Chi Sheng Law Firm Dong Shuo

The supermarket clearly understands the white shop

Large supermarket:

Chinese labeling details

On October 24, the reporter went to a large supermarket in Xudong. On the shelves of imported food, there are a variety of foods, including snacks, spices, and red wine. After picking up a kind of imported food, only the outer packaging is marked with foreign language, but on the back of the package, there are Chinese labels. The reporter bought a bag of 500 grams of "shell-shaped pasta," the price of 12.99 yuan. On the Chinese label, the product name, origin, ingredients, as well as the foreign manufacturer, the address of the domestic distributor, telephone and other detailed information.

A man from the United Kingdom is picking up imported food. Ms. Wang, a Chinese girlfriend, told reporters that they are buying imported food in large supermarkets, and generally buy a few fixed brands. Speaking of imported foods, they said that some businesses are known as "original imports," but they are not necessarily pure imports. They may also be domestic repackaging or parallel imports or counterfeit goods.

The reporter interviewed several customers randomly and asked how to identify the authenticity of imported food. The respondents shook their heads in confusion and even said they did not know. Lawyer Dong Shuo told reporters that he often buys imported food, but he never realizes that imported food will also have problems.

Street shop:

Some goods do not have any Chinese

In Dongting Road, Wuchang, there are two food shops and the characters “Original Imported Food” on the front door are very attractive.

The reporter walked into one of the stores and saw that the shelves were full of snacks such as dried fruits, chocolate, and biscuits. According to its Chinese label and package foreign language, most of these products are from South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, Malaysia, and other Southeast Asian countries, and the dealers marked on the Chinese label are all food and beverage firms in the Qiaokou District. However, among the many products, there are some that do not have Chinese labels. The reporter took a box full of Korean cookies, looked through the entire package, and did not find Chinese labels. Looking at this product, the lawyer Dong Shuo said with doubt: "On the basis of the text on the packaging, we only know that it is Korean, but we do not understand what it means. We can only guess it is a kind of strawberry flavor based on the pattern on the packaging. Cartoon cookies." The reporter asked the clerk why the product did not have a Chinese label, the clerk said, may be the dealer forgot to paste. In this store, the reporter bought a variety of Chinese dried mango (12.5 yuan/bag, nominally produced in the Philippines), whole wheat chocolate (10 yuan/bag, nominally produced in Korea), and A box of full Korean cookies (5 RMB/box) without any Chinese labels.

In another imported food franchise, the owner stated that its products were imported from Europe and the United States, and they were purchased directly from the domestic distributors. The reporter purchased almond-shaped wafers and finger cakes in the store. The Chinese labels showed that they were produced in the United States at a price of 22 yuan per bag.

There is no Chinese label at the dealership

The Chinese label of the dried mango and whole wheat chocolates purchased by the reporter shows that the dealer is “Wufu Food Business” in Qiaokou District, Wuhan City. Based on this clue, the reporter found a food trader on the first floor of a building near the bridgehead of Jianghan Bridge, Hankou, and found an unannounced visit.

Going into the store of the woods food store, the reporter quickly found the three kinds of goods purchased in the street shop - dried mango, whole wheat chocolate, and Korean cookies, which looked exactly the same from the outside. In addition, there are many Chinese-labeled and imported foods without Chinese labels on the Display Shelves of the store.

The reporter took a box of Korean cookies from the shelves and asked the store staff there was no Chinese on the package. How to shop? The other party said that because of the new arrival, the Chinese label has not had time to paste it.

Beside this company, there are a number of import food wholesalers. One by one, the reporters found some imported foods without Chinese labels.

Detection is difficult to "visually measure" packaging

What are the problems with the six kinds of imported food that reporters choose? Next, the reporter took the food, along with lawyer Dong Shuo, to the relevant departments, hoping to get test results.

In the Provincial Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, relevant officials said that the department can inspect the imported food imported from the ports of Hubei Province; and the food purchased by the reporter and most of the imported food on the market are from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and other places enter the customs, and the local inspection and quarantine authorities issue certificates after testing, and then transfer them to Wuhan. Relevant person in charge of the department reminded that the key to buying imported food depends on whether the business has a “health certificate” issued by the inspection and quarantine department at the place of entry and whether the product has a Chinese label on it.

Subsequently, the reporter came to Wuhan Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Institute. The person in charge of the agency carefully reviewed the imported food that the reporter took. He said that the agency can only conduct quality inspections on domestic products. Imported foods are not within its scope of detection; even if it is tested on the samples provided by reporters, it will not be able to issue inspections. As a result, because the agency does not have relevant testing standards comparable.

It seems that the six kinds of imported foods that reporters have purchased are difficult to detect on the basis of quality, and can only be identified from the outer packaging.

The relevant person in charge of the Wuhan City Administration for Industry and Commerce carefully identified the following: shell-shaped pasta, almond-based wafers, and finger cakes. The Chinese labels were printed with the specifications, the writing was clear, and the content of the labels was also standardized. There was basically no quality problem in terms of packaging. The dried mangoes and whole wheat chocolates are not only printed with rough Chinese labels, but are also markedly non-standard. For example, in terms of production dates, the label is “one year before the shelf life date” and the specific dates should be stated; Nor does it indicate the names, addresses, contact information, and other important information of foreign manufacturers and domestic distributors. For the box of full-Korean cartoon cookies without Chinese labels, the person in charge pointed out that the problem is the most serious, because there is no Chinese explanation, and it is obviously contrary to our laws and regulations.

Problem with imported food withdraw

In view of the reporter's consumption trials and the problems found in some imported foods, the industrial and commercial department stated that it will launch a special investigation.

On November 4, the law enforcement officers of the Chongren Industry and Commerce Office of the Sakaguchi Industrial and Commercial Branch conducted a special inspection of a number of imported food wholesalers such as the Woodward Foods and Trading Company located along Yanhe Avenue, and found that the imported foods that the reporters reported were indeed present. The law enforcement officers immediately ordered the store to remove the imported food from the counter, and further investigations will be conducted.

Look at the barcode to see if it is imported

Food is food to safety first. When buying imported foods, what should be paid attention to in order to buy more safe and secure? The reporter interviewed the heads of imported food procurement of the industrial and commercial departments and large supermarkets and imported food wholesalers.

â—† First of all, when buying, it is best to choose a large formal store. Because there are purchase invoices, once there is a security problem, they can be handled by the store and they can complain to the industrial and commercial department.

◆ Secondly, regardless of where imported food is purchased, customers have the right to request the merchant to present the “Hygiene Certificate” issued by the National Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. The original of the certificate is placed in the domestic general distribution office, and other distributors hold a copy of the certificate.

The third is to look at the Chinese label on the package. There are two cases here, one is that the manufacturers in the exporting country have already posted, and the other one is posted by the domestic general distributor after entering the customs.

If you buy so-called "imported food", the "health certificate" and the Chinese label are not, it is a foreign food without inspection and quarantine. It may have potential safety hazards in the use of raw materials, processing, storage, transportation, etc.

◆ In addition, the difference between original imported food and domestic imported imported food can be identified based on the barcode. Domestically-produced foods, including domestically-packaged imported foods, have barcodes beginning with “69”; while imported foods start with other numbers, such as US imported foods, where barcodes begin with “00” and Japanese imports are “49”. At the beginning, Korean food imports begin with "88."