World Bank to Help Improve Food Safety in China

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a loan of $100 million to the People’s Republic of China to support the government’s efforts to enhance food safety and meet increasing demand for higher quality and safer food by the Chinese population.

A World Bank statement earlier in May stated: "The Government of China has made food safety a top priority in recent years and is taking clear actions to upgrade their food safety system. It passed the Law on Agricultural Product Quality and Safety in 2006 and the Law on Food Safety in 2009. The Jilin Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Project is part of the national efforts to upgrade food safety infrastructure, procedures and enforcement capacity to implement these new national laws.”

Jilin Province in northeast China is a major agricultural producer and supplier of agricultural products to other parts of China. The project aims to help Jilin Province improve its agricultural product quality and reduce agricultural product safety risks. This will be achieved through introducing good agricultural practices, improving the implementation of agricultural product safety related regulations, and strengthening the agricultural product safety monitoring system.

The $100 million loan from the World Bank will finance 70% of the total project investment. This is the first food safety project that the World Bank has supported in China. It is the largest food safety project ever financed by the World Bank. The Bank’s study entitled “China’s compliance with Food Safety Requirements for Fruits and Vegetables” in 2006 and policy note entitled “Food Safety in China” in 2008 laid the groundwork for the development of this project.

Read the full story at The Financial.