Ink, dye, bleach, wax and toxic chemicals: These are just a few of the substances that have been found recently in food products in China, reigniting fears over food safety despite repeated government pledges to crack down on tainted eats.

　　墨汁、染料、漂白、石蠟和有毒化學物質(zhì)：這些只是其中幾樣最近在中國食品中發(fā)現(xiàn)的物質(zhì)。盡管中國政府誓言要打擊污染食品，但這些物質(zhì)還是再次引起人們對食品安全的擔憂。

　　Why is China having such trouble making its food safe?

　　Sean Yong/Reuters2011年4月10日在浙江金華，一名員工一個火腿一個加工廠里工作。為何中國確保食品安全會如此困難呢？

　　While China is no stranger to food scandals, a spate of food contamination cases brought to light over the past month has been shocking even to the most jaded of observers here. Over the past few days, health authorities in the southern province of Guangdong shut down 17 noodle makers after they were discovered mixing ink and wax to their dough. Meanwhile, over the weekend, nearly 300 people in the city of Changsha were reportedly sickened after eating meat contaminated with the banned 'skinny meat' additive clenbuterol, the subject of a meat industry crackdown in March.

　　雖然中國并非第一次出現(xiàn)食品安全丑聞，但即便是最見怪不怪的觀察人士也會對過去一個月曝光的一連串食物中毒事件感到震驚。過去幾天，廣東省衛(wèi)生部門發(fā)現(xiàn)17家粉條企業(yè)的粉條混有墨汁和石蠟，隨即責令這些企業(yè)關(guān)門。同時據(jù)報道稱，上周末長沙市近300人食用含有被禁的瘦肉精添加劑后患病，瘦肉精是政府3月份整頓肉類行業(yè)行動的主要打擊對象。

　　In perhaps the most bizarre case, also in Changsha, a number of consumers earlier this month walked into their kitchens at night to discover their store-bought pork was glowing in the dark.

　　最離奇的可能是，本月早些時候同樣是在長沙，一些消費者晚上走進自家的廚房時發(fā)現(xiàn)從商店買來的豬肉竟然在黑暗中發(fā)光。

　　Beijing has struggled with food safety for years. The problem appeared to come to a head in 2008, when milk tainted with the industrial chemical melamine killed at least six children, sickened tens of thousands of others in 2008 and appeared to shock the government into taking decisive action. But the melamine eventually reappeared in the Chinese food supply, along with a host of other chemicals and illegal additives, leading many observers to wonder why China can't seem to solve such a fundamental problem.

　　中國與食品安全問題展開斗爭已經(jīng)多年。這個問題在2008年變得非常緊要，當時含有工業(yè)化學物質(zhì)三聚氰胺的牛奶導致至少六名兒童死亡，數(shù)萬人患病。政府似乎也受到震驚并采取果斷行動。但三聚氰胺最終又再次現(xiàn)身，與其他多種化學物質(zhì)和違法添加劑一起出現(xiàn)在中國食品供應中，許多觀察人士因此想知道，為何中國似乎無法解決這樣一個根本問題。

　　One of the biggest issues is the drive to make a buck at any cost, says Lester Ross, a Beijing-based attorney with U.S. law firm WilmerHale. Some companies see that by using additives, they can cut overhead costs or boost profit margins, and they merely aren't thinking about the affects the additives will have on consumers, Mr. Ross says.

　　美國WilmerHale律師事務所駐北京律師羅斯（Lester Ross）說，最大的一個問題在于不擇手段賺錢的驅(qū)使。羅斯說，一些企業(yè)認為，用了添加劑就可以削減經(jīng)營成本或提高利潤率，他們幾乎不考慮這些添加劑會對消費者造成何種影響。

　　The answer to that, according to Mr. Ross, is an education blitz. China has the ability to plaster its subways, bus stations and even television screens with messages and advertising that lets all people know the dangers involved using chemical additives in food.

　　羅斯認為解決的辦法是宣傳教育。中國有能力在地鐵站、公交站甚至電視上發(fā)布信息或廣告，讓所有人都知道在食品中使用化學添加劑帶來的危險。

　　Local media reports of illnesses related to chemical consumption have helped, Mr. Ross says. A flood of news stories in recent days have informed Chinese consumers that meat containing clenbuterol may be leaner, but it may also cause headaches, nausea, and heart palpitations, while vegetables with sodium nitrite may grow faster, but they can also cause cancer.

　　羅斯說，當?shù)孛襟w有關(guān)攝入化學品致病的報導有一定的幫助。近幾天中國消費者從大量的新聞報導中得知，含瘦肉精的豬肉可能更瘦，卻也可能引起頭痛、惡心、心悸，含亞硝酸鈉的蔬菜可能長得更快，但也可能致癌。

　　In a push for greater clarity, China's Ministry of Health is planning to revise and make public its list of legal food additives by the end of the year, while also publishing a black list of illegal additives, the state run China Daily reports.

　　據(jù)《中國日報》報導，為增強透明度，中國衛(wèi)生部計劃年底前修改并公布合法食品添加劑名單，同時還將公布非法添加劑的黑名單。

　　But education is only part of the problem. Another issue, according to Mr. Ross, is that there are too many cooks in the kitchen -- or rather too many bureaucracies handling food safety. The Ministry of Health is the lead agency on food safety issues, he explains, but the State Administration for Industry and Commerce is also involved, as are the State Food and Drug Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture.

　　不過，教育只是一個方面。據(jù)羅斯說，另外一個問題是監(jiān)管食品安全的政府機構(gòu)過多。他解釋說，衛(wèi)生部是食品安全問題的主要監(jiān)管機構(gòu)，但國家工商行政管理總局、國家食品藥品監(jiān)督管理局和農(nóng)業(yè)部也參與食品安全的監(jiān)管。

　　Struggles with food safety are not a specifically Chinese problem. Many countries, including the U.S. and Japan, have gone through similar growing pains in the food industry, says Wu Ming, a professor at Beijing University's school of public health.

　　食品安全問題并不是只有中國才有。北京大學公共衛(wèi)生學院教授吳明說，包括美國和日本在內(nèi)的很多國家在食品行業(yè)都經(jīng)歷過類似的“成長的煩惱”。

　　Sanitation and contamination issues permeated the food manufacturing and processing U.S. in the late-19th century. As China law scholar Stanley Lubman recently noted, it wasn't until 1906, when Upton Sinclair published "The Jungle," a book that unveiled the horrific standards of meat-packing plants of Chicago, that the U.S. began to wake up to its food safety problems.

　　19世紀末，衛(wèi)生和污染問題在美國的食品生產(chǎn)和加工行業(yè)非常普遍。正如中國法律問題學者魯布曼(Stanley Lubman)最近指出的，直到1906年厄普頓•辛克萊(Upton Sinclair)出版了《屠場》(The Jungle)一書，美國才開始意識到食品安全問題?！锻缊觥方衣读酥ゼ痈缛忸惏b廠駭人聽聞的標準。

　　The big difference between the U.S. and China is size, Ms. Ming says, adding that the quantity of companies involved in China's food industry will make for tougher regulatory obstacles.

　　吳明說，美國和中國的一大差別是行業(yè)的規(guī)模。她還說，中國食品行業(yè)中的公司數(shù)量給監(jiān)管帶來了更大的障礙。

　　"It's impossible to lessen such problems overnight," Mrs. Ming said. "It will take many years."

　　吳明說，這類問題不可能一夜減輕，這需要很多年的時間。