Zero tolerance must be upheld on the issue of milk powder quality

Recently, two pieces of news about domestically produced infant formula milk powder drew public attention. First, the State Food and Drug Administration conducted a special sampling inspection of infant formula milk powder and detected 11 batches of samples that did not meet national standards and posed food safety risks. Second, a certain domestic infant milk powder brand passed the BRC A+ top-level certification under the global food safety standard.

Viewed together, these two pieces of news say a great deal. The Chinese people's confidence in domestic milk powder has not yet fully recovered to this day, and the fact that most people choose to buy foreign-brand milk powder through overseas online shopping is proof of this. Once trust has been knocked down, rebuilding it is doubly difficult. If domestic milk powder wants to win back consumers' trust and thereby gain a foothold in the international market, the key is that it must show "zero tolerance" for milk powder quality problems.

For enterprises, "zero tolerance" means always holding tight to quality, the "lifeline," and not relaxing in the slightest. Reports say that most of the non-compliant enterprises found in this inspection had the problem of "insufficient testing capacity." However, this insufficiency cannot serve as an excuse to relax milk powder quality control; enterprises that cannot adapt to the standards should withdraw from the market, and this is also the inherent meaning of full competition.

For regulatory authorities, "zero tolerance" means stricter rules and a more complete regulatory and penalty system. It should be said that in recent years, China's regulatory authorities have increasingly tightened regulation of the dairy industry. The newly revised Food Safety Law, which will take effect on October 1 this year, not only adds corresponding provisions on legal liability, but also requires that the product formulas of infant formula milk powder be registered with the food and drug regulatory department under the State Council, and that formula research and development reports and other materials demonstrating the scientificity and safety of the formulas be submitted. With strict rules in place, what comes next depends on specific implementation, which directly affects milk powder safety and also tests the execution capacity of all parties.

Objectively speaking, the domestic milk powder industry has made efforts in recent years to transform production methods and boost product quality, and a certain domestic brand milk powder obtaining top international certification is the result of such efforts. However, restoring confidence is a long and arduous process, and in particular, similar quality problems must not be allowed to happen again. Only by thoroughly guaranteeing "zero tolerance" for milk powder quality problems at the institutional level and persisting in it over the long term can domestic milk powder's future path become ever broader.