China's small food factories, once outside the regulatory system, might be subject to specific local controls as a draft law on food safety has urged local legislatures to draw up factory safety measures.

"Provincial legislatures must take specific measures to manage the work of small food workshops and vendor stands," said the draft law.

Many small food plants and outlets are popular in tourist regions because they offer a cheap taste of local cuisine. However, food safety problems are frequent among such establishments, which don't require licenses and often lack management oversight.

"Food problems occur frequently in small companies and workshops below the county level. However, it is not practical to impose the [national] approval system on all of them, nor is it appropriate to let them be," the Law Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) said in a report at the fourth session of the 11th NPC Standing Committee.

"The country has many small workshops and private stands. Most cannot reach the official standards, and that situation will persist in the short term," said the committee of education, science, culture and health under the NPC.

The committee advised local legislatures, which know local conditions better, to impose specific measures to guarantee food safety, while also ensuring employment and social stability.

The draft law, submitted to China's top legislature for a second reading on Monday, also highlights the "social responsibility" of food producers and marketers.

"Food safety is directly related to public health and safety," said the report. "Food makers should not only act according to law but also undertake social responsibilities."

The previous draft, which focused on government supervision and administrative punishment, failed to address the "civil liability" of those making and selling the food, the committee said.

The current version, thus, added that producers and marketers should ensure food safety, accept public supervision and shoulder social responsibility.

The draft law, covering food safety evaluation, monitoring, recalls and information release, laid out penalties from fines to life in prison for makers of substandard food.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2008)