Food Safety in China

China announced a reform to its bureaucracy responsible for food safety, public health and pharmaceutical industries. The Ministry of Health will take over the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) and will become the major watchdog for food safety. Sounds simple? The reality is a number of different bureaus, departments and agencies will be involved along the food production chain.

The Ministry of Agriculture, for example, will oversee the agricultural production while the State Administration for Industry & Commerce will look after food distribution. The SFDA, meanwhile, will still have a role in monitoring restaurants and canteens.

The even more confusing part is how the regional subsidiaries of these agencies will be reformed. As typical in Chinese politics, this can not be easily inferred from the central reforms.

Will this reform boast the low confidence on China's food products? We will have to keep an eye on it.