Why does China’s food safety suck, 11-year-old reporter asks stunned Chinese officials

Chinese officials accustomed to the tame questions of a compliant state press have been caught out by a plucky 11-year-old reporter during the country’s sensitive Communist Party congress.

AAP reports that Sun Luyuan, a Beijing sixth-grade student, shook up one of the tightly-controlled party meetings on Friday on the congress’s sidelines with a question that put officials on the spot over China’s miserable food-safety record.

Noting that a steady stream of scandals and health scares involving tainted or unsafe food products had particularly affected students, leaving many sickened in various incidents, Sun asked why China can’t clean up its act.

“I love snacks, but I don’t dare to eat snacks now because we see so many reports these days of problems with food products,” Sun asked high-level officials during a congress delegate meeting, according to state-run China News Service.

During the meeting at Beijing’s cavernous Great Hall of the People, Sun, who works for the Chinese Teenager News, continued by asking “why are these kinds of food products available for purchase?”

“As many primary and middle school students eat our lunches at school, what can you do to put us at ease over food safety?” she asked.

Ma Kai, a top official in China’s cabinet who presided over Friday’s meeting, passed the question to Education Minister Yuan Guiren, the China News Service said.

Yuan offered a stock official response pledging the government was addressing the situation and putting proper safety measures in place, a line repeated for years even as the scandals have persisted.

1984: Clean food for Chinese communist officials amid safety scandals

While Chinese officials issue stern warnings and attend high-profile meetings to bolster the country’s abysmal food safety record, some Communist party officials are supplied with clean, safe products, specially grown for them, in something reminiscent of a medieval oligarchy.

??In an article that was taken offline, the Southern Weekend reported last week on a special greenhouse in Beijing. It’s protected by a six-feet high iron fence, and its organic produce goes to Beijing Customs officials.?. And these “special food suppliers” are not limited to Beijing. Their products range from fruits and vegetables to pork and poultry. These suppliers have to comply with strict safety standards before their products can reach the mouths of communist officials.

??For most ordinary Chinese, this is a far cry from how their food is managed. The Chinese regime’s head of food safety Zhang Yong claimed last Friday that the overall situation of food safety was good. He blamed the media for over exaggerating, saying the problems only affect a small part of the public.