China steps up campaign on food safety awareness

　　BEIJING, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- A campaign that aims to boost the public's role in safeguarding food safety and promote awareness¹ of the issue was launched at the 9th China Food Safety Annual Conference, which closed on Sunday.

　　Food safety has a bearing on people's health as well as the nation's sound and harmonious² development, said Shi Xiushi, chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), at the opening, calling for efforts to raise companies' sense of responsibility and consumers' awareness in preventing and dealing³ with food safety crimes.

　　The new campaign is part of a broader five-year program (2011-2015) of food safety education announced by the State Council Food Safety Commission (SCFSC) in May.

　　The program aims for more than 80 percent of the public to be aware of basic food safety by 2015, with the rate for primary and high-school students reaching up to 85 percent or more.

　　ARDUOUS⁴ WORK

　　Food safety has become a growing public concern in China following a string of scandals over recent years. In the latest one, illegal workshops were found making and selling "gutter⁵ oil," which is processed from leftovers⁶ dredged from gutters⁷.

　　Gu Xiulian, former vice⁸ chairwoman of the NPC's Standing⁹ Committee, the country's top legislature, said ensuring safety is the top priority for the food sector¹⁰, the country's pillar industry with an output of 550 million yuan (97.3 million U.S. dollars) in the first nine months of 2011.

　　The development of the nation's food safety has failed to keep up with the demands of a public whose living standards have improved substantially in recent years, said Shi.

　　Pledging to do everything it can to ensure food safety, the government takes a zero-tolerance approach to companies that sell unsafe food. In 2010 alone, authorities across the country investigated and handled 130,000 cases of food safety violations¹¹, shutting down more than 100,000 companies, according to the SCFSC.

　　"The food industry's overall development level is relatively¹² low. There are weak links in the sector's credibility, management, detection techniques and even the laws and regulations," said Pu Changcheng, deputy director of the Administration of Quality Supervision¹³, Inspection¹⁴ and Quarantine.

　　Pu's points are exemplified by China's agricultural industry, which is largely based around small-scale production managed by disparate bodies. It would be a formidable task to eradicate¹⁵ the sector's safety issues.

　　The catering¹⁶ business also faces a similar plight¹⁷. The country has issued licenses¹⁸ to 2.2 million catering companies, most of which are small and individually operated, making safety supervision extremely difficult, according to Bian Zhenjia, deputy head of the State Food and Drug Administration.

　　PUBLIC PARTICIPATION¹⁹ WILL HELP

　　"Although the overall situation of food safety remains²⁰ stable, there are still outstanding problems," said Gu Xiulian. "What the government urgently needs is to further promote food safety laws to improve public awareness."

　　The SCFSC was created in February 2010 to better implement²¹ the food safety laws that took effect in June 2009 and coordinate²² the country's food safety work.

　　But a report by Chinese legislators delivered to the NPC's Standing Committee in June showed that, due to a lack of understanding of laws, some food manufacturers continue to act in an underhand and dishonest fashion.

　　"Through a series of well-organized and impressive educational activities, we hope to truly improve the safety awareness of the whole population and create a good atmosphere with every citizen devoted²³ to safeguarding food safety," Gu said.

　　The campaign, which will be carried out in communities, villages, schools and enterprises, will showcase the nation's food safety progress, instructing on food safety procedures and promoting food safety laws.

　　While praising the role played by the country's 120,000 licensed²⁴ food producers in ensuring food safety, Pu Changcheng appealed to food enterprises to take responsibility.

　　"The key, or the basis, for promoting the food sector and safeguarding food safety lies with our food producers," Pu said. "Safe food is not gained from supervision, but from safe production.

　　"We hope these enterprises that are already good demonstrators on safeguarding food safety will continue to play a role in pursuing credibility and self discipline, improving management and promoting the sector's sound development."

　　The two-day conference attracted more than 600 participants from government departments, research institutes, industry associations and food enterprises.

1 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

2 harmonious   

adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的

参考例句：

• Their harmonious relationship resulted in part from their similar goals.他们关系融洽的部分原因是他们有着相似的目标。
• The room was painted in harmonious colors.房间油漆得色彩调和。

3 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

4 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

5 gutter   

n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟

参考例句：

• There's a cigarette packet thrown into the gutter.阴沟里有个香烟盒。
• He picked her out of the gutter and made her a great lady.他使她脱离贫苦生活，并成为贵妇。

6 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

7 gutters   

（路边）排水沟( gutter的名词复数 )； 阴沟； （屋顶的）天沟； 贫贱的境地

参考例句：

• Gutters lead the water into the ditch. 排水沟把水排到这条水沟里。
• They were born, they grew up in the gutters. 他们生了下来，以后就在街头长大。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

11 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

12 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

13 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

14 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

15 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

16 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

17 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

18 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

19 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

20 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

21 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

22 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

23 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

24 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？