Analysis of Food Safety Supervision and Spot-Check in Sichuan Province in 2019

Pengyu CHEN Wei WANG 1, Xueli WU Lili JI Jiamin ZHANG Zhipin ZHAO Rui ZHANG Ting BAI Bo HOU Yixi YANG Lin CHEN

Abstract   Through the analysis on 211 614 batches of samples from 35 categories of food safety supervision and inspection in Sichuan Province by Administration for Market Regulation of Sichuan Province in 2019， four suggestions were finally put forward. The analysis results showed that in 2019， the overall trend of food safety in Sichuan Province was stable and improved. A total of 30 categories of unqualified samples were detected， and a total of 12 135 batches of unqualified samples were detected， with an average sample unqualified rate of 5.73%. Among them， the main problems of unqualified samples were as follows： the use of food additives beyond the scope and limit， accounting for 40.17% of the total number of unqualified samples， microbial contamination in food， accounting for 23.61% of the total unqualified samples， the residue index of agricultural and veterinary drugs in food not meeting the standard， accounting for 15.61% of the total unqualified samples， the quality index in food not meeting the standard， accounting for 8.51% of the total number of unqualified samples， and heavy metals and other pollutants in food exceeding the standard， accounting for 7.10% of the total unqualified samples.

Key words   Sichuan; Food safety; Supervision and spot-check; Recommendations

With the improvement of the quality of life， people have higher requirements for food safety， and food safety has become a hot issue of people’s livelihood. Food safety is not only related to the vital interests of the people， but also involved in Chinese social stability and economic development. Therefore， China attaches great importance to the supervision and management of food. Supervision system is an important part of food quality and safety supervision system， which serves as the main basis for government supervision departments to implement food quality and safety supervision  [1] . It is of great significance to strengthen food safety supervision， maintain healthy market order and create a good environment for food production and consumption  [2] . The key work arrangement of food safety in Sichuan Province in 2021 is determined： according to the "four strictest" requirements， special rectification of food safety will be carried out deeply focusing on prominent issues that are generally concerned by the people， the modernization of governance system and governance capacity will be promoted， and the sense of acquisition， happiness and security of people will be continuously improved  [3] .

Sichuan Province is a big province of food production， consumption as well as trade， and the problems found in food safety supervision and spot-check are representative of the industry  [4] . Based on the analysis of food safety supervision and spot-check in Sichuan Province in 2019， the main problems of food safety were summarized， and targeted improvement suggestions were put forward， so as to achieve the purpose of improving food quality and development level.

Materials and Methods

Data sources

The data came from the Circular  [5-8]  on the analysis of food safety supervision and spot-check in each quarter of 2019 in the homepage/release/spot-check information column of Administration for Market Regulation of Sichuan Province website and the Announcement of Administration for Market Regulation of Sichuan Province on the unqualified situation of three batches of food  [9] . Meanwhile， by downloading the summary table of all kinds of food supervision and spot-check information in each quarter of 2019 in the relevant notice， it was taken as the object of analysis of each situation in this paper.

Methods

The downloaded summary table of various food supervision and spot-check in each quarter of 2019 was used to count and analyze the data through Numbers table software， and relevant situation analysis tables were drawn. The analysis was carried out from four aspects， such as the situation of supervision and spot-check in each quarter， the situation of supervision and spot-check of major foods， the situation of supervision and spot-check of various foods in each quarter and the situation of supervision and spot-check of unqualified items， so as to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the food safety situation and the main existing problems in  Sichuan  Province in 2019.

Results and Discussion

Analysis on overall spot-check

In 2019， Sichuan Province completed and published a total of 211 614 batches of samples， and the results of supervision and spot-check are shown in Table 1. Among them， there were  199 479  batches of qualified inspection items and 12 135 batches of unqualified samples， and the overall qualified rate of samples was 94.27%. Among them， the number of samples sampled in the first quarter of 2019 was 25 555， accounting for 12.08% of the total annual sampling， and 1 442 batches of unqualified samples were detected， with an unqualified rate of 5.64%. Among them， the number of samples sampled in the second quarter of 2019 was 39 918， accounting for 18.86% of the total annual sampling， and 2 374 batches of unqualified samples were detected， with an unqualified rate of 5.95%. Among them， the number of samples sampled in the third quarter of 2019 was 50 699， accounting for 23.96% of the total annual sampling， and 2 567 batches of unqualified samples were detected， with an unqualified rate of  5.04% . Among them， 95 442 batches of samples were sampled in the fourth quarter of 2019， accounting for 45.10% of the total sampling in the whole year， accounting for the largest proportion of the total sampling in the whole year. 12 135 batches of unqualified samples were detected， and the unqualified rate was 5.73%. The qualified rates of samples in the first and third quarters were higher than the average qualified rate of samples in 2019. In the fourth quarter， the number of samples sampled was the largest and the qualified rate of samples was the lowest. Meanwhile， the number of samples sampled in each quarter fluctuated greatly.

Analysis of spot-check of major categories

The details of supervision and spot-check of various categories of food in Sichuan Province in 2019 are shown in Table 2. Administration for Market Regulation of Sichuan Province conducted food safety supervision and spot-check on 35 categories of foods in 2019. Judging from the qualified rate of samples， there are five categories of foods that have not found unqualified samples， namely cocoa and roasted coffee products， special dietary foods， formula foods for special medical purposes， infant formula foods and food additives. Unqualified samples were detected in the other 30 categories， and there were 3 categories with qualified rate lower than 90%; there were 8 categories with qualified rate lower than 95%; and there were 28 categories that were higher than the average qualified rate of sampling samples. In terms of sampling quantity， the sampling quantity of edible agricultural products was the largest， reaching 84 829 batches， followed by catering food （18 591 batches）， liquor （17 017 batches）， vegetable products （11 043 batches） and processed food products （10 935 batches）， all of which exceeded 10 000 batches. The most unqualified samples were catering food （3 718 batches）， edible agricultural products （2 484 batches）， vegetable products （2 158 batches） and liquor  （1 522 batches）. Due to the large number of samples sampled， the number of unqualified samples sampled far exceeded that of other major categories. Among them， the qualified rates of three kinds of samples were lower than the average， namely， catering food  （80.00%） ， vegetable products  （80.46%）  and liquor  （91.06%）.

Analysis on quarterly spot-check

The details of supervision and spot-checks of various foods in Sichuan Province in each quarter in 2019 are shown in Table 3. The qualified rate of meat products， convenience foods， canned foods， quick-frozen foods， vegetable products， fruit products，  aquatic  products， starch and starch products and catering foods fluctuated greatly in each quarter of 2019. The qualified rate of major categories such as vegetable products， fruit products and catering foods fluctuated greatly due to quarterly changes. Among  them， the qualified rates of vegetable products （78.47%， 74.45%，  81.76%， 83.51%） and food and beverage products （76.89%， 88.93%， 81.70%， 74.38%） were lower than the average qualified rate. The qualified rate of the three major categories of food changed with the quarter and continued to decline， including： beverages （97.45%， 96.72%， 95.95%， 87.56%）， roasted seeds and nut products （98.67%， 96.49%， 96.21%， 95.45%） and edible agricultural products  （98.52% ，  97.99% ，  97.27% ，  96.57%）.

Analysis on categories of non-conforming items

The details of supervision and spot-check of unqualified items in Sichuan Province in 2019 are shown in Table 4. The number of unqualified samples in the supervised was 12 135 batches. The main problems could be divided into five categories： the use of food additives beyond the scope and limit （the average unqualified proportion for 40.17%）， microbial contamination in food （the average unqualified proportion for 23.61%）， pesticide and veterinary drug residue indicators in food that do not meet the standards （the average unqualified proportion for 15.61%）， the quality indicators in food that do not meet the standards （the average unqualified proportion for 8.51%）， and heavy metals and other pollutants in food that exceed the standards （the average unqualified proportion is 7.10%）. Among them， the problem of using food additives beyond the scope and limit was the most serious， with the largest proportion of unqualified food additives in four quarters， which reached 43.24%， 51.21%， 35.74% and 40.17%， respectively. From the quarterly changes， the problem that the residue indicators of agricultural and veterinary drugs in food did not meet the standards was on the rise， and the unqualified proportions in each quarter reached  9.98% ，  10.58% ，  18.47%  and 23.42%， respectively. The remaining four major problems fluctuated obviously with quarterly changes. From the perspective of major problems compared with the same period of the previous year， three major problems decreased year-on-year. Specifically， the use of food additives beyond the scope and limit decreased by 11.13%， the quality indicators in food that did not meet the standards decreased by 0.92%， and heavy metals and other pollutants in food that exceeded the standard decreased by 0.82%. Two major problems increased compared with the same period of the previous year. Specifically， microbial contamination in food increased by 7.56%， and agricultural and veterinary drug residue indicators in food that did not meet the standards increased by 5.52%.

Conclusions and Suggestions

From the analysis on food safety supervision and spot-check in 2019， it can be seen that food safety problems still exist and are affected by factors such as quarters and food types. However， under the normalization of food safety supervision and spot-check， the qualified rate of food safety supervision and spot-check in 2019 showed a steady and rising trend， which showed that the normalization of food safety supervision and spot-check is of great  significance  to ensure food safety in China and protect people’s healthy life. According to the analysis of food safety supervision and spot-check in 2019， the following suggestions are put forward.

Improve the scientific spot-check mechanism

According to the analysis of food safety supervision and spot-check in Sichuan Province in 2019， the total number of samples sampled in each quarter， the proportion of each category of food in the total number of samples sampled in each quarter， and the number of samples sampled in each category of food were different to varying degrees. It makes the qualified rate of samples finally detected and other data had certain errors， which affected the accuracy of the analysis of food safety supervision and spot-checks， and then affected some judgments and policies made according to the analysis. In addition， for some foods affected by quarters， such as vegetable products and fruit products， the difference in sampling quantity in each quarter would also cause inaccurate data such as sampling pass rate. Therefore， measures such as perfecting scientific spot-check mechanism and innovating food spot-check methods can ensure the accuracy and reliability of spot-check data.

Continuously overcome the prominent food problem

In the analysis of food safety supervision and spot-check in Sichuan Province in 2019， two main problems， microbial contamination in food and substandard indicators of pesticide and veterinary drug residues in food， increased differently compared with the same period in 2018. In particular， the problem that the residue index of pesticide and veterinary drugs in food does not meet the standards had been rising in every quarter in 2019， showing an increasingly serious trend. For these outstanding food safety problems， measures such as strict control of the use of agricultural and veterinary drugs and key supervision can continue to tackle them， so as to ensure that key food safety issues are effectively managed， so that food quality can be substantially improved.

Promote the construction of cooperative supervision system

Food safety problems and food types are constantly diversified， which makes it increasingly difficult to complete food supervision only by relevant departments. Through the cooperation between relevant departments， platforms and the Internet， improving the technical ability of food supervision and improving food supervision methods can make the food be supervised more effectively. For example， we can cooperate with the take-out platform to supervise foreign sellers， "black workshops" and unlicensed operators; and through cooperation with Internet companies， new technologies such as big data， artificial intelligence， cloud computing， Internet of Things and block chain will be applied to strengthen supervision in the field of food safety.

Innovative food safety publicity

In the era of mobile Internet， the food safety publicity environment has changed greatly， and the traditional food safety publicity methods are no longer enough to cover the general public. Under the new situation， food safety publicity can rely on WeChat official account， TikTok， subway advertising screen and other platforms to make food safety-related knowledge into cartoons， posters and short videos， which can be conveniently， quickly， easily understood and conveyed to the society， so that food safety is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

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Editor： Yingzhi GUANG   Proofreader： Xinxiu ZHU