Hotlines to report illegal food additives can only be useful if the public has the basic knowledge of additives, says an article in Wuhan Evening News. The following is an excerpt:

According to the website of the Ministry of Health, the national hotline to report illegal food addictives has recently been set up for the public in the wake of the toxic milk powder scandal.

The scandal has taught people a lesson that melamine is used by dairy producers as a type of additive and that it's better for them to carefully read the ingredients on a packet before buying it.

But most people still can't tell safe addictives from the harmful ones, which defeats the very purpose of the hotline.

The government needs to popularize the knowledge of additives among people through websites and television programs that can help people understand what are unsafe food additives.

(China Daily February 28, 2009)