"Food hygiene" was once a term familiar to the general public, now it seems that it is being gradually replaced by "food safety".

A survey on food safety, which was completed recently by the social survey center of China Youth Daily, shows that the frequent recent occurrence of food safety events has drawn extensive attention from the public, and 82 percent of them say that these events will "certainly" arouse their anxieties about the food safety problems, while 13 percent indicate that these events may "probably" cause such worries.

Twenty-seven percent of people think that in their daily life they often come across the food safety problem; 64 percent said they "did meet with the problem, but seldom"; and only 9 percent of those surveyed gave the answer "never encountered".

In their letters, many readers also mentioned the hidden peril of food safety happening around them. Although these problems did not exert wide-ranging impacts, they did cause great trouble and even harm to people who once came across the problem.

As for concrete food safety problems, more than half of those surveyed indicate that "food that does not reach national hygienic standard" worries them most. The second is "counterfeit name brand foodstuffs", 21 percent chose to give the above answer. Additionally, 16 percent of people fear most that the date of food quality-guarantee already expired but is still being sold".

What deserves our attention is that " not clearly identified trans-genetic food" seems to have not caught the attention of most of the interviewees, because only 4 percent of people think that this problem is most worrying. However, there is also a reader from Huainan, Anhui Province who queries certain enterprises that "neither identify nor acknowledge" the trans-genetic compositions contained in their products, saying that this is a kind of serious "dishonesty".

About 95 percent of people consider that the "date of production and the quality-guarantee period" are generally the problems of concern to them while buying food. However, what merits our attention is that less than half of people take notice of "relevant certificates of inspection"; while 52 percent pay attention to "the outward-looking factors such as color and package of food".

As to the multi-choice question "what do you think is the fundamental reason for the frequent occurrence of the current food safety problems?" most people chose to answer that "lawless food-producing enterprises and individuals are driven by interest", those who chose to give such answer comprise 87 percent. Meanwhile, 68 percent of people surveyed held that "insufficient punishment of dishonest enterprises and individuals" also constitutes one of the major reasons.

The "negligence of duty" on the part of government functional departments on the food safety problem also arouses great public concern. 72 percent of people maintain "the responsibilities of supervisory departments are not clearly defined, and they evade and shift responsibility to each other". "The lack of coordination and information exchange" and "insufficient punishment of officials with relevant law-enforcement departments" are respectively regarded as the fundamental reason for the frequent appearance of food safety problem by 64 percent and 65 percent of the public.

Numerous interviewees also cited the saying "Food is the first necessity of the people"; they hope that their anxiety about the food safety is not superfluous.

Background of the survey: this survey was conducted from May 23, 2004 to June 20, 2004, 1,113 valid questionnaires were received from the country's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. The male takes up a proportion of 69 percent, and female 31 percent. The average age of the interviewees is 30, and 78 percent of readers are aged between 19-35. 78 percent of them are college graduates and above; 62 percent have a monthly income under 1,000 yuan.

By People's Daily Online