Send "black sheep" of milk industry to prison: Chinese legislator

 　　BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- A national lawmaker has urged strict legal supervision¹ for China's milk industry, suggesting that those "black sheep" in the sector² should be sent to prison.

　　Zong Qinghou, a beverage³ magnate and also a deputy to the National People's Congress, or the country's top legislature, made the remarks after at least 25 people have been detained by Hong Kong authorities for violating a newly-adopted purchase ban on baby formula.

　　"Personally, I do not quite understand the new regulation of Hong Kong," said Zong, who is in Beijing to attend the upcoming annual legislative⁴ session. "But taking Hong Kong as a mirror, we can see the inadequacy⁵ of lawmaking and law-enforcement in food safety on the Chinese mainland."

　　Beginning Friday, people leaving Hong Kong can take no more than two tins of infant milk formula with them.

　　Violators could face a fine of 500,000 Hong Kong dollars, or 64,500 U.S. dollars, and even prison terms of up to two years.

　　The new rule was implemented⁶ following a severe shortage of some popular brands of baby formula in the city's retail⁷ market recently, largely due to surging demand of buyers from the mainland.

　　"Since Hong Kong can jail those buyers of baby formula milk, why can't the mainland authorities adopt strict laws in this regard and send those black sheep to prison?" Zong said.

　　Authorities have declared that 99 percent of baby formula milk on the mainland meets relevant quality standards.

　　"Yet, so many people still rush to purchase milk powder from overseas, which shows that they still lack confidence in mainland's milk industry," said another national lawmaker Peng Weiping from east China's Anhui Province.

　　A food safety scandal hit the mainland in 2008, when the melamine-tainted baby formula caused the deaths of at least six infants and sickened 300,000 others.

　　Zong said he went to Australia many times last year to look for a suitable grazing land.

　　"I have not closed a deal. But I really hope to buy a livestock⁸ farm and raise milk cow there to guarantee the safety of milk powder from the source," he said.

　　Zong said legal supervision is the most fundamental way to rebuild the public's confidence in the mainland's milk industry.

　　"We should let the lawbreakers pay a heavy price, but not the buyers instead," he added.

1 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。

2 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。

3 beverage   

n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料

参考例句：

• The beverage is often colored with caramel.这种饮料常用焦糖染色。
• Beer is a beverage of the remotest time.啤酒是一种最古老的饮料。

4 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

5 inadequacy   

n.无法胜任，信心不足

参考例句：

• the inadequacy of our resources 我们的资源的贫乏
• The failure is due to the inadequacy of preparations. 这次失败是由于准备不足造成的。

6 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

7 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

8 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。