An army marches on its stomach, Napoleon Bonaparte once famously
said, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) clearly believes in
the dictum.
After a series of food and drug safety scandals nationwide, the
PLA will strengthen food safety for its 2.3 million servicemen,
according to a circular released recently.
"To strengthen food safety is to guarantee the PLA's combat
capacity," said Zhou Pengjun, an official with the General
Logistics Department, which issued the notice.
It aims to tighten supervision over all its food suppliers,
which account for 90 percent of the total supply. The other 10
percent is farm produce grown by the troops themselves around their
camps.
According to the circular:
Food suppliers have to pass safety and hygiene appraisals by the
local governments.
All units must closely monitor the entire food supply chain and
stop the use of fake or substandard products.
All servicemen have to be served in separate plates at army
canteens.
The majority of the combat troops dine from dishes served
separately after food safety awareness was raised following the
2003 SARS epidemic.
But non-combat forces and soldiers stationed in remote and
mountainous areas still eat from a common dish.
Priority must be given to the supervision over canteens run by
civil contractors.
All canteens are required to install more disinfectors and
dishwashers, and food sampling will be done regularly.
An information sharing system will be established between the
army and the State Food and Drug Administration, and the ministries
of agriculture and health.
(China Daily July 13, 2007)