Posted: April 20th, 2012 - 5:19pm
Source: Shanghai Daily

Shanghai's food safety watchdog is tightening up its crackdown against harmful food-production practices, increasing inspections and offering rewards for people who report problems.
Since the beginning of last year, authorities have cracked 80 food-safety cases and arrested 180 businessmen, Yan Zuqiang, director of the Shanghai Food Safety Office, said yesterday.
On a far greater scale, more than 7,000 local food manufacturers had their licenses revoked by the food safety watchdog for violations such as selling unsafe food, using substandard cooking oils or illegal additives, and more than 8,000 unlicensed food businesses have been shut down, Yan said.
More than 200 tons of kitchen waste oil sold to underground recyclers was seized over the same period and 160 underground mills processing such leftover kitchen oil were busted.
The city's food safety hotline 12331 has received more than 6,000 reports from locals since opening three months ago. The office yesterday said much of the information was valuable but did not specify a percentage.
Those offering tips to help crack down major food safety crimes can get awards of up to 200,000 yuan.