How can the standard of food and drug residues be "asleep"?

McDonald's recently announced that it would stop using chicken fed with human antibiotics in the United States in 2017, but did not make the same requirement for the Chinese market because of different standards between the two countries. From Ikea cabinets to McDonald's chickens, multinational giants have repeatedly "watched people put down dishes," but the vast number of Chinese consumers have repeatedly bumped into their own "standard doors."

It is understood that the standard we currently use in terms of antibiotic residues in food is the MRLs for veterinary drugs in animal foods revised by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2002. In other words, this standard has been in use for nearly 14 years.

What is the concept of 14 years? According to the 2015 data, China's total GDP has increased by more than four times compared with 2002, and the total economic output has jumped from the sixth to the second place among the major economies in the world. In the past 14 years, the living standards of Chinese residents have improved greatly, and the requirements for food safety are naturally different. However, a food safety standard closely related to the lives of ordinary people has been used for 14 years, which is a bit unreasonable.

Food safety standards are linked to the health of the people on one end and the development space of the food industry on the other, which must adapt to the development level of the national economy. If it is divorced from the national conditions and sets high standards, it will affect the survival of food production enterprises, but ignoring the level of economic development and letting a low standard lie there for more than a decade cannot meet the growing food safety needs of the people. nor can it guide the upgrading of the food industry as a whole. A small number of food production enterprises adhere to low standards, in fact, they are forcing capable consumers to buy imported food, which is tantamount to giving up the market to others, dispelling the competitiveness of China's food industry.

Nowadays, many domestic food production enterprises claim that they have implemented safety standards higher than those of Japan and the European Union, which is considered by marketing strategy, but at least it shows that in terms of food safety standards, to a certain extent, we already have the ability to compete with the international advanced level.

It is reported that the relevant departments are promoting the revision of some food safety standards. It is hoped that these standards will rise with the economic and social development, adapt to the living standards of ordinary people, and meet people's growing food safety requirements in a timely manner. At the same time, we should formulate standards more accurately, implement classified and graded management under the premise of large safety, such as improving the food safety standards for children, pregnant women and the elderly, and guide enterprises to pursue higher quality by market means.

Food is the most important thing for the people, and cleanliness is the first thing to eat. To make people feel at ease, the standards must keep pace with the development of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way.