Live fish pulled from shelves sparks speculation, and public questioning is also a form of oversight
While ensuring food safety, it is also necessary to take into account the stable supply of the market and the actual needs of consumers. Market law enforcement departments are only cracking down on lawbreaking traders, while trustworthy enterprises and safe production and marketing practices should be protected and encouraged - unqualified food must be made something that businesses dare not and cannot put on display, while lawful operators should be encouraged to confidently and openly sell qualified food.
The Beijing Municipal Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that the city's sampling inspections of aquatic products are all carried out in accordance with relevant standard procedures, and there is no so-called "leak" problem; the online claim that water pollution in Beijing has led to contamination of freshwater fish is not credible, and the suspension of sales of live freshwater fish by some supermarkets is an independent decision by the enterprises themselves. There are no problems with live fish inspections in the Beijing market, and relevant departments are actively coordinating to ensure market supply. (See page A6 for related reports.)
When such rumors appear in society, they often "do not come out of nowhere without a cause." Since May this year, many large supermarkets in Beijing have successively pulled live fish from their shelves, and few supermarkets are still selling live fish. This inevitably makes residents suspicious: why would a supermarket counter that was doing perfectly fine stop selling live fish? Moreover, there have already been reports that live fish sold by supermarkets were found to be unqualified. For example, on November 7 this year, the Beijing Municipal Food and Drug Administration published an announcement on its official website about food safety supervision and sampling inspections, mentioning that fish sold by supermarkets failed quality sampling inspections. Put together, this information easily leads people to guess that the successive removal of live fish from supermarket shelves was caused by quality problems with the fish or the water.
The explanation and clarification by the Food and Drug Administration and other departments this time can be described as timely. If rumors and hearsay had been allowed to spread, they would soon have turned into a surging wave of misinformation. Supermarkets independently suspending live fish sales may be because selling live fish is not very profitable and the supermarkets need to adjust their profit strategy, or because they have concerns about food safety and would rather temporarily remove the fish from shelves and resume sales after the relevant work is effectively improved. Moreover, removal from shelves does not necessarily mean the live fish definitely have quality problems. It may simply be that inspection efforts have been increased, and supermarkets worry that one inspection might go wrong, so they prefer to temporarily remove the fish from shelves, carry out their own rectification, and make things more secure. In short, regarding the removal of live fish from shelves by some supermarkets, one should not make a preconceived and blind judgment, and even less should one fabricate and spread various untrue statements in order to prove that one's judgment is accurate.
Starting from March 1 this year, Beijing began implementing the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of the Quality and Safety of Edible Agricultural Products Sold on the Market, strengthening supervision over the sale of edible agricultural products. On July 29, the State Council Food Safety Office, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the State Food and Drug Administration and other departments jointly issued a notice on the Action Plan for Special Rectification of Excessive Antibiotics, Prohibited Compounds and Veterinary Drug Residues in Livestock, Poultry and Aquatic Products, and a nationwide special rectification campaign against excessive prohibited substances in livestock, poultry and aquatic products was launched, and is still ongoing. Recently, the Beijing Municipal Food and Drug Administration launched a special winter food safety inspection. With these arrangements and activities overlapping, food safety supervision has formed a high-pressure posture. Against this background, live fish, which are relatively prone to problems in supermarkets, being removed from shelves should first be seen as a normal reaction by supermarkets (representing the market).
From this it can be seen that the emergence of the relevant rumors and hearsay is mainly because both the national and local levels have increased inspection and supervision of related foods. Although similar rectification efforts will to some extent cause inconvenience to consumption, they will undoubtedly make food safety better guaranteed. From this perspective, the public speculation triggered by this "supermarkets pulling live fish from shelves" should not simply be seen as a bad thing, but can instead be regarded as a positive development. If consumers "lose" some convenience and in return can obtain food safety on a larger scale and at a higher level, then it is worthwhile. As the rectification campaign unfolds across the country, phenomena such as "supermarkets pulling live fish from shelves" may also appear in other places. There is no need to worry or be anxious about this, and still less should there be excessive association and interpretation.
From another perspective, the relevant rumors also reflect residents' concern and worry about food safety. "Supermarkets pulling live fish from shelves" has triggered some speculation among the public, which is both a deep call for strengthening market supervision and ensuring food safety to the greatest extent, and also a form of oversight over the government and functional departments in supervising according to law and enforcing the law strictly.
Relevant departments should make advance judgments and explanations regarding the phenomenon of "supermarkets pulling live fish from shelves," so as to avoid misunderstandings caused by poor information flow. While ensuring food safety, it is also necessary to take into account the stable supply of the market and the actual needs of consumers. Market law enforcement departments are only cracking down on lawbreaking traders, while trustworthy enterprises and safe production and marketing practices should be protected and encouraged - unqualified food must be made something that businesses dare not and cannot put on display, while lawful operators should be encouraged to confidently and openly sell qualified food.