Girl reporter embarrasses ministers with question on food safety

An 11-year-old reporter's unexpectedly pointed question about poisoned food left some top party ministers dumbstruck and embarrassed yesterday, shaking up an otherwise tightly scripted 18th party congress event.

Sun Luyuan , a grade-six pupil representing the Chinese Teenagers News, asked officials gathered for a key group meeting how the country's food safety record had got so bad that she and her classmates could no longer eat snacks.

"I love snacks, but I don't dare to eat snacks now and neither do my classmates, as there are so many poisoned foods on the market," the Beijing girl said. "So my question to all the minister-level uncles and aunties is: how can we children eat foods without concern?"

The question broke the otherwise lethargic atmosphere in the meeting room as officials suddenly straightened in their seats. But Ma Kai , the meeting's host and secretary general of the State Council, just smiled.

He assigned the question to Education Minister Yuan Guiren . Yuan gave a stock answer, noting that food safety was a global concern and that problems occur sometimes.

"We have prepared a series of oversight systems to guarantee food safety," he said.