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EU's Ban on China's Soy Sauce Is Rumor: Official
Deputy secretary general of China Condiment Association Bai Yan said that China has in December 2000 implemented a soy sauce production standard that is higher than EU'. Consumers do not need to worry about using soy sauce made by standardized factories. She explained that it is a sheer fabrication that EU has banned exports of China's soy sauce.
According to reports, in a sample survey in soy sauce that was going to export to EU in July, 1999, five factories were detected levels of 3-MCPD (3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol) were higher than standard. The five brands were immediately embargoed to EU, but other brands were not banned. Later, China formulated related standards, regulating that content of 3-MCPD shall not be higher than 1 part per million (ppm), this is much lower than EU's 2 ppm. There will be no problem if factories produce soy sauce by this standard.
Some media regard EU's upcoming May 12 inspection to some soy sauce factories as a final verdict, regarding this, Bai Yan said that we have not been notified about this till now. She did not think that EU's inspection has some relation with the 1999 case. This is only a normal exportation inspection, and this may be the media's delight in exaggerating such thing, she said. As regards some rumor that Cantonese-style soy sauce are made with compounds and Beijing's are made by brewing, Bai Yan said that some factories want to take this chance to advertise their products. Whether Cantonese or Beijing style, it is either made with compounds or by fermentation. Chinese condiment factories should take active measures to challenge with the fierce international competition, but should not fight against their domestic counterparts.
By PD Online staff member Li Yan
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