Xinhua News Agency, Tianjin, February 13, Title: Sterilized tableware: Can it guarantee "safety on the tip of the tongue"

Xinhua News Agency reporters Shao Xiangyun and Zhang Jianxin

During the Spring Festival, more and more friends and relatives go out for gatherings and use sterilized tableware. Some consumers reported that the signs of sterilized tableware in some restaurants are not obvious, and they are worried about whether they can guarantee hygiene. The reporter recently tracked the quality problems of sterilized tableware in Tianjin and other places.

The quality is uneven, and the qualified mark is not obvious

"When I used chopsticks to poke through this layer of plastic packaging, I didn't know whether the quality of these sterilized tableware met the standards, and I didn't know how to identify them?" Mr. Liu, a citizen of Tianjin, told reporters that some of the tableware did not indicate the packaging date, and some did not have the factory inspection certificate. I was really worried about whether these tableware met the hygiene standards?

Another citizen, Ms. Yang, told the reporter: "As a consumer, every time I go out to eat with my family, I always have doubts in my mind when I get the sterilized tableware. Even if I reluctantly use it, I have to boil it with boiling water before I feel at ease."

Chen Yunkui, director of the Consumer Guidance Department of the Tianjin Consumer Association, said that the city's Consumer Association has recently received frequent inquiries from consumers about sterilized tableware, and most of them ask what kind of sterilized tableware can be used with confidence?

Article 58 of China's Food Safety Law stipulates that centralized sterilization service units for tableware and drinking utensils shall have corresponding work places, cleaning and sterilization equipment or facilities, and the water used and the detergents and disinfectants used shall comply with relevant national standards for food safety and other national standards and hygiene regulations.

However, Chen Yunkui said that although the country has many regulations, it does not rule out the possibility that some irregular sterilized tableware companies will not implement them, and consumers may encounter unqualified tableware when using sterilized tableware in restaurants.

Li Gang, vice president of the Tianjin Tableware Centralized Disinfection Association, said that if there is no clear manufacturer's address, contact information, and disinfection date, it may not be a disinfected tableware produced by a formal enterprise, and there may be excessive E. coli. Consumers must pay attention to its logo when using it.

The entry threshold is low and there are loopholes in management

Li Gang introduced that as disposable tableware gradually withdraws from the market, centralized disinfection of tableware as a substitute has the advantages of saving resources and ensuring hygiene through centralized disinfection, but the entry threshold of such enterprises is low, and internal management and industry supervision are not perfect enough.

It is understood that in 2014, there were more than 40 tableware disinfection enterprises in Tianjin, and now they have been integrated into 16, with a daily processing capacity of nearly 250,000 sets.

"Formal tableware disinfection enterprises are enterprises under the guidance of Tianjin's municipal and district health supervision departments, and have obtained formal qualifications; but there are also some workshop-style enterprises that are located near pollution sources, employees do not have health certificates, and use non-food grade detergents, which bring health risks to the quality of disinfected tableware." Li Gang said.

The reporter recently visited a centralized disinfection production base for tableware in Wuqing District, Tianjin, where 40,000 to 60,000 tableware sets are cleaned every day and sent to major catering companies in Tianjin. The company is equipped with assembly line dishwashers and environmental protection facilities. The entire production is divided into four areas: tableware recycling area, cleaning and disinfection area, quality inspection and packaging area, and packaging and warehousing area.

Zhang Hongxin, the person in charge of this company, introduced that the tableware collected from various restaurants in Tianjin is cleaned by water classification machines in the catering recycling area, and the oil stains are cleaned with food-grade sodium hydroxide in the cleaning and disinfection area. Then, they are successively put into high-pressure spraying and high-temperature pool scalding, and high-temperature drying in the dryer before being packaged.

"The whole process takes about ten minutes. We conduct random inspections every hour. If we find unqualified products, we unpack them and send them back to the production workshop for re-disinfection. The shelf life of disinfected tableware is 7 days. E. coli and other bacteria are killed. The water in the pool is changed every half a day, and the operators have to undergo a physical examination once a year." Zhang Hongxin said.

Afterwards, the company will conduct a quality inspection on the packaged tableware, and inspect the total number of colonies, drug residues, and appearance cleanliness of the products in a specialized inspection room. Only after all are determined to be qualified can they be packed and stored and sent to relevant units. The name of the unit, address, contact information, disinfection date, etc. are printed on the tableware packaging.

Li Gang said that it is difficult for some workshop-style tableware disinfection companies to meet such quality standards, so unqualified disinfected tableware still exists in the market.

Who will supervise and inspect if the quality does not meet the standards?

According to the relevant person in charge of the Tianjin Health Department, in order to strengthen the quality of disinfected tableware, in 2010, the Tianjin Health, Industry and Commerce, and Food and Drug Administration departments jointly issued a notice on the health supervision standards for centralized disinfection units of tableware, requiring the industrial and commercial departments to be responsible for notifying the relevant enterprise information to the health department, the health department to be responsible for supervising and inspecting the centralized disinfection service units of tableware and drinking utensils with industrial and commercial licenses, and the food and drug administration department to be responsible for supervising the tableware and drinking utensils used by catering units.

The relevant person in charge said that Tianjin has also formulated the implementation measures for the sanitary supervision norms of centralized disinfection units for tableware, requiring the relevant enterprises to comply with relevant national standards in site selection, layout, facilities and cleaning and disinfection processes, and to improve the sanitary management systems such as requesting certificates and invoices, incoming goods inspection, ledger records, finished product sampling inspection and product recall.

It is understood that the city's health department organizes sanitary supervision inspections and quality spot checks of centralized disinfection service units for tableware and drinking utensils in its jurisdiction every year, with no less than 2 supervision inspections and no less than 1 spot check per household each year.

However, industry insiders pointed out that although various norms have been formulated, these norms cannot become the conscious behavior of enterprises without strict supervision and inspection.

The relevant person in charge of the Tianjin Health Department said that the public can call to complain and report illegal acts. The health and family planning administrative department will impose administrative penalties on disinfection service agencies found to have illegal acts during supervision and inspection, and notify relevant departments in accordance with the law; those who fail the supervision and random inspection will be ordered to rectify within a time limit. If they still fail to meet the standards after rectification or refuse to rectify, they will be subject to administrative penalties in accordance with the law.

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