In an effort to soothe the black eyes that China has been sporting after months of revelations that the country has been sending tainted products to the United States and elsewhere, the Chinese government in August declared a four-month “special war” against poor product quality and lack of supervision.

According to China news agency Xinhua, eight categories of products are involved: pork, drugs, agricultural products, processed food, food in the catering sector, import and export products, and other products related to public health (toys and electric wires, for instance). Twenty detailed targets, to be met by the end of the year, have been set.

“This is a special war to protect the safety and interests of the general public, as well as a war to safeguard the 'Made in China' label and the country's image,” Vice Premier Wu Yi said during a national teleconference in Beijing and at the government Web site.

Xinhua reports of the recent Sino-U.S. Consumer Product Safety Summit and overall problems:

It was the first meeting on quality control Wu chaired after being appointed head of a cabinet-level panel on food safety and quality control last week. She acknowledged that despite progress made in the past few years, the country did have some “deep-rooted” problems regarding food and product quality.

Such problems include a large number of small food plants with poor equipment and management, excessive amount of drug residues, and the use of fake materials. Poor supervision and overlapping enforcement powers have to be addressed, as well, said Wu.

According to Colgate University sociologist Carolyn Hsu, in a recent report from Newswise, the series of China-based product recalls “that have rocked international markets in recent weeks” are a direct result of “the continued importance of the nation’s complex system of guanxi, or relationships.”

Whatever the reason, things must change.

To that end, a five-year plan was announced in April to address shortcomings in the supervisory structure, legal regime, quality of personnel and more general quality assessment, reported Forbes’ Oxford Analytica in July. Immediate measures adopted have included the following:

• Establishing a China Food Safety Web site;
• The reporting of supervisory activities through regular media releases;
• The preparation of a product recall system;
• The banning of chemicals and additives that fall below international standards;
• The blacklisting of companies that flout the law; and
• A crackdown on rogue factories.

Moreover, the execution of the former head of China’s State Food & Drug Administration may signal the government’s intent to crack down on illegal activity in manufacturing.

Critics charge that the U.S. agency responsible for the American public’s safety from dangerous consumer products is “toothless and understaffed,” a Reuters report recently claimed. “These critics say that it would take a complete overhaul of the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission’s mission and a huge increase in its $63 million budget to give it the clout needed to scrutinize the trillions of dollars in goods that are made in or imported into the U.S. each year.”

“We will not be able to inspect our way to food and product safety,” Michael Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, recently told The Washington Post. “The scale makes it impossible to inspect everything.”

In the first half of this year, China exported US$546.7 billion worth of products, up 27.6 percent over the same period of last year, according to Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng.

Leavitt predicts that imports will increase threefold by 2015.

Meanwhile, an official with China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) recently suggested that companies with foreign investment in China should shoulder the responsibility of ensuring and improving product quality.

One week ago, China signed an agreement to prohibit the use of lead paint on toys exported to the U.S. The agreement, announced at the second U.S.-China meeting on consumer product safety, was negotiated after the recent recalls of millions of toys decorated with paint containing the metal, which can be toxic if ingested. In addition to other joint efforts, the agreement between regulators pledges regular product safety talks between the two countries, including monthly discussions of recall activity and trends, according to The Associated Press.

Toy giant Mattel Inc. recently recalled tens of millions of Chinese-made dolls, cars and action figures that had lead paint or small magnets that children could swallow. Soon after news of the second worldwide recall in a month, China’s chief safety watchdog, Li Changjiang, was quick to designate blame on “a design fault” rather than on the Chinese manufacturers or Chinese factories.

“Eighty-five percent of the roughly 20 million toys that Mattel recalled were due to design faults, according to Li, the director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. Li said only 15 percent were deemed unsafe due to Chinese manufacturers using dangerous lead in the paint, Agence France-Presse reported.

“So I would like to pose this question: the Chinese manufacturers have their share of the responsibility, but what kind of responsibilities do the American importer and the product designer have?” he asked.

Indeed, despite whoever deserves the most grief, there are lessons to learn from this.

“The torrential problems facing today’s exports from China should serve as a wake-up call for all importers that the time to act is now — be proactive and not reactive,” as Supply & Demand-Chain Executive recently advised.

To that end, Despina Keegan, a senior trade advisor for JPMorgan Global Trade Services in New York, recently offered a “Checklist for Import Safety” at Supply & Demand-Chain Executive (available HERE).

“Made in China” has suddenly become a dangerous term, one that scares people off rather than entices with the claim of cheap and well-made products. Yet Chinese officials, while acknowledging and addressing problems, insist that most Chinese exports are safe.

Have the recent revelations surrounding poisonous food and other unsafe products from China affected your buying decisions? Weigh in below.

9/25 Update: Follow-up: Mattel's Apology Lost in Translation

Resources

The Most Dangerous Toys
by Tom Van Riper
Forbes, Sept. 17, 2007

Official: Exports Reflect "Safety of Products"
by Zhang Chencen
China Daily, Aug. 3, 2007

"Special War" Launched to Raise Quality
by Nie Peng
China Daily, Aug. 24, 2007

China Goods Recalls Due to Nation’s Relationship System
Colgate University (via Newswise), Aug. 17, 2007

Beijing Scurries to Improve Food Safety
Oxford Analytica (Forbes), July 30, 2007

Critics Call U.S. Consumer Agency Toothless
by Diane Bartz
Reuters, Sept. 6, 2007

Foreign Companies Should Ensure Product Quality: NDRC Official
Xinhua, Sept. 8, 2007

China Signs Pact to Ban Lead Paint in Export Toys
The Associated Press, Sept. 12, 2007

China Blames Design for Mattel Recalls
Agence France-Presse, Aug. 27, 2007

China Declares ‘War’ on Tainted Products
Reuters, Aug. 24, 2007

Import Safety Panel Points to Technology
by Renae Merle
The Washington Post, Aug. 18, 2007

Guest Column: A Checklist for Import Safety
by Despina Keegan, JPMorgan Global Trade Services
Supply & Demand-Chain Executive, Sept. 10, 2007

Handbook for Manufacturing Safer Consumer Products
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, July 2006

Scandal and suicide in China: A dark side of toys
by David Barboza
International Herald Tribune, Aug. 23, 2007

Image Sources

The Wall Street Journal

Product-Reviews.Net