500 gather for food safety in Shenzhen

The Second Shenzhen Food Safety Risk Communication Forum was held from Oct 24 to 25.

The forum attracted nearly 500 representatives from eight countries and regions. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The forum featured a keynote speech, a seminar and interviews. With a theme of "food safety standards and technical regulations", discussions at the forum centered on the status, characteristics, principles of revision, system construction and working mechanisms of the various countries and regions in attendance. 

The seminar of the Shenzhen Food Safety Risk Communication Forum [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Li Zhong, deputy director of the municipal food and drug administration, talks to Awilo Ochieng Pernet, former chairwoman of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Through multilateral dialogue, the forum aimed to iron out differences and form mutually beneficial cooperation towards enhanced international co-governance of food safety.

The Shenzhen municipal government attaches great importance to food safety work. In 2014, Shenzhen launched a major food and drug safety project and initiated the establishment of a national food safety city. A policy system governing food safety is now basically established after two years of hard work.

Nevertheless, Shenzhen still faces some severe problems, like the visible gap in food safety between Shenzhen and more advanced areas. To solve these problems, local authorities will take more actions in the near future to improve the city’s food safety levels.