The Chinese FDA is exerting effort to thwart the spread of food and drug rumors. The authorities will be using instant messaging and other online platforms to battle against fake food news.
China’s Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), founded in 2013, is the country’s top food safety regulatory body. One of its important roles is to ensure food supply in China.
Recently, the Chinese market has been flooded with news on food fraud, bringing inherent fear to the people. However, some of these exposés turned out to be fake news.
On Sunday, the Chinese FDA released a two-page email stating that food and drug rumors spreading online are influencing public views on the status of the country’s food safety.
“The large population and limited land resources, as well as the special historical development phase of China, have created a huge gap between food security regulation work and people’s expectations,” the department said.
In a report on March 26, Quartz discussed China’s growing concern on fake food news stories and why it is difficult to put down food and drug rumors. Among these are viral videos such as that of “plastic seaweed” in February.
According to the CFDA, the department has already put up social media platforms which will give the public updates on food sample results on a weekly basis. In addition, the CFDA has also set aside pages to sampling, recalls, risk warnings, unannounced inspection, and illegal advertisements.
The bureau has also opened a public WeChat account to respond to rumors and to boost science education on food and health. The social media service currently has 700 million active users each month.
A show conducted by the CFDA in November tackled the difference between prescription and non-prescription drugs. It was viewed more than 3,000 times.
The sampling size on food and drug samples has also been increased, the department said. In the previous year, 257,000 items have been sampled by the CFDA. The sampling size has grown by 49 percent since 2015. Based on the results of last year’s sampling, only 3.2 percent did not meet the CFDA’s standards.
The CFDA has also discovered 170,000 illegal goods in different parts of the country. The list of the items was published on the bureau’s official website.
Notwithstanding these actions, the CFDA admitted that it may be difficult to turn the events in such a short time.
According to the CFDA, “a relatively weak regulation force at the grass-roots level, the lack of technicians and outdated equipment for law enforcement” are the causes of delay.
The Chinese FDA hopes to address food and drug rumors with the use of instant messaging and other online platforms.