Food safety needs urgent action
A course for people who wanted to learn how to make fake eggs was exposed by a mainland journalist last month. A fake egg costs only between five fen (5.9 HK cents) and eight fen to make, much lower than the price of real eggs, the CCTV report said. Consumers could not tell fake eggs from real ones even after eating them.
This is the latest reminder of the problems with food safety on the mainland.
A tragic example was the scandal involving milk with melamine added to it, which killed at least six children in 2008 and gave tens of thousands of others kidney problems. In another case, duck eggs were found to contain Sudan red, a cancer-causing industrial dye.
Such incidents discourage tourists from visiting the mainland. International companies will also think twice before setting up their businesses there.
The central government should take urgent action. It should increase the penalties for makers of tainted food and teach children the value of genuine products.
Steven Chan, Wah Yan College, Kowloon
From the Editor
Thank you for your letter, Steven. The story of the fake eggs has been around for quite a while now. A lot of people thought the story itself was fake. But it seems it's true after all.
It seems that people have become lost. They think only about money and how to make it. There is little thought for their fellow human beings. While there is a definite need for the government to step up its control over this kind of fraud, we need to examine our own hearts and ask where our values lie.
If we put such value on being rich and making money at all costs, we are encouraging this sort of behaviour. We as consumers have tremendous power to say 'enough'. If we buy fake goods - handbags, clothes or discs - we tell people that this is okay. Let the change start with us.
Susan, Editor
