Beijing consumers are being warned to watch out for falsely
labeled "organic" food, which could account for about 10 percent of
all sales of "green" food in the capital according to a survey
conducted by the Beijing Consumers Association.
The association released the report on Monday, the eve of World
Consumer Rights Day.
In a random selection of 268 goods labeled "organic," including
rice, oil, eggs, vegetables and drinks, 25 samples were falsely
labeled.
Some of the food was produced by companies not certified to
produce organic foods, such as milk from a Heilongjiang-based
company and rice from a producer in Hebei.
Some companies place organic food labels on items that look
similar to genuine organic products, the association claimed.
Regulations require recertification every three years.
The city's consumers association called on the government to
improve supervision of organic food. Many people have?been
increasingly?concerned about numerous food safety problems,
such as the overuse of pesticides, growth hormones in animal feed
and unsafe food additives, and turn to organic products because
they feel they are safer.
The association is holding a number of activities to increase
awareness of consumers' rights, including providing expert legal
and product quality advice.
By the end of 2004, the association had received more than
20,000 complaints from consumers, 97 percent of which were
resolved, resulting in compensation of more than 22.5 million yuan
(US$2.7 million) to consumers.
The complaints mainly concerned after-sales service (40 percent
of the total), quality (28 percent) and contract disputes (12
percent).
In the past, most Chinese consumers silently tolerated
violations of their rights. Awareness is now growing and people are
developing a greater sense of self-protection.
In a related development, on Monday the Chinese Consumers
Association warned people who still use old-style water heaters to
scrap the machines because of safety risks.
The old gas-fired water heaters, which discharge waste gases
directly into rooms, can cause fatal accidents from carbon monoxide
poisoning. More than 1,000 such accidents occurred last year.
The selling of old-style water heaters was banned in 2000, but
nearly 10 million of them are still in use around the country.
World Consumer Rights Day is an annual event to promote the
basic rights of all consumers, for demanding that those rights are
respected and protected and for protesting abuses and injustices
that undermine them. The event was first observed on March 15,
1983.
(China.org.cn, China Daily March 15, 2005)