China said authorities have arrested more than 2,000 people and shut 5,000 businesses in a four-month campaign against recurring food safety problems, following a spate of recent contamination woes.

　　中國說，在為期四個月針對頻頻出現(xiàn)的食品安全問題進(jìn)行的打擊行動中，公安機(jī)關(guān)已抓獲犯罪嫌疑人2,000多名，關(guān)閉了5,000家非法經(jīng)營企業(yè)。中國前不久又爆出了一連串食品污染問題。

　　The arrests resulted from inspections begun in April of nearly six million businesses in the country's food manufacturing industry by some 3.5 million enforcement officers, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing China's Food Safety Commission.

　　STR/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images今年6月，公安機(jī)關(guān)在北京一家沒有營業(yè)執(zhí)照的作坊查獲了一批使用受污染大米和一種非法人造甜味劑生產(chǎn)出的粽子。中國國有媒體新華社援引中國食品安全委員會的消息報道說，從今年4月展開行動以來，累計出動執(zhí)法人員約350萬人次，共檢查食品生產(chǎn)經(jīng)營單位近600萬戶。

　　China's government frequently trumpets crackdowns and mass arrests to demonstrate its seriousness in tackling social problems, but it is unclear how effective the latest effort will be in improving food safety.

　　中國政府經(jīng)常對整頓和大規(guī)模抓獲行動進(jìn)行高調(diào)宣揚，以顯示其在處理社會問題方面的認(rèn)真性，但不清楚此次抓獲行動會對改善食品安全起多大作用。

　　The government executed the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration in 2007 for taking bribes, and it issued harsh sentences to several people responsible for a 2008 scandal in which milk contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine killed at least six children and caused illnesses in nearly 300,000 others. That incident also prompted the government to vow stricter food oversight and to overhaul the food industry, and resulted in the creation of the Food Safety Commission.

　　2007年，國家食品藥品監(jiān)督管理局原局長因收受賄賂被執(zhí)行死刑。2008年，含有工業(yè)化學(xué)品三聚氰胺的牛奶導(dǎo)致至少六名嬰兒身亡、近30萬名嬰兒患病，丑聞相關(guān)責(zé)任人被判處嚴(yán)刑。三聚氰胺事件也促使政府誓言要加強(qiáng)食品監(jiān)管并對食品行業(yè)進(jìn)行徹底整頓，此后政府成立了食品安全委員會。

　　But a series of fresh incidents in recent months has shown how deeply entrenched the problems are. Last month, for example, a court in central China's Henan province sentenced a man for producing and dealing clenbuterol after hundreds of people were sickened from eating pork tainted with the chemical, which speeds muscle growth in pigs but can cause headaches in humans. The court sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve─meaning it could be commuted to life in prison─and handed prison sentences of nine to 15 years for four others involved, according to Xinhua.

　　但近幾個月新出現(xiàn)的一連串事件表明食品安全問題是多么的根深蒂固。據(jù)新華社報道，上個月，河南省數(shù)百人食用含瘦肉精的豬肉后患病，一名瘦肉精生產(chǎn)者和經(jīng)銷商被判處死刑，緩期兩年執(zhí)行，另四名涉案人員分別被判處九到15年監(jiān)禁。瘦肉精會使豬的肌肉長得更快，但人食用后會出現(xiàn)頭痛。

　　Experts say safety issues have to do largely with the structure of China's food industry, which is extremely fragmented, making production oversight difficult. China has some 200 million farming households and 400,000 food-processing enterprises with fewer than 10 employees, said Christopher Hickey, the China director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

　　專家說，安全問題與中國食品產(chǎn)業(yè)的結(jié)構(gòu)有很大關(guān)系，中國食品行業(yè)極其分散，導(dǎo)致監(jiān)管困難。美國食品和藥物管理局（U.S. Food and Drug Administration）中國負(fù)責(zé)人希基（Christopher Hickey）說，中國共有約2億農(nóng)戶，40萬家不到10名員工的食品加工企業(yè)。

　　The government has said it wants to consolidate the agricultural and food manufacturing sectors, but the process has been slow─in part because officials need to balance that desire against the need to keep hundreds of millions of rural residents employed.

　　政府說希望對農(nóng)業(yè)和食品制造業(yè)進(jìn)行整合，但進(jìn)展一直較慢，這一定程度上是因為政府需要進(jìn)行權(quán)衡，要讓數(shù)億農(nóng)村居民有活可干。

　　Enforcement is also a continuing issue, according to Wu Ming, a professor of public health at Peking University. Major food safety campaigns followed by long periods in which there is no enforcement of regulations enables violators to hide temporarily and reappear, she said.

　　北京大學(xué)公共衛(wèi)生學(xué)院教授吳明說，執(zhí)法也是一件需要常抓不懈的工作。她說，大型食品安全行動結(jié)束后，監(jiān)管部門往往很長時間不再采取執(zhí)法行動，這使得違法人員常常在大規(guī)模安全行動開始后先暫避風(fēng)頭，待執(zhí)法行動結(jié)束后再冒出來。

　　Surging inflation─which is currently at a three-year high─has further aggravated the problem, said Sang Liwei, a Beijing director at the nonprofit organization Global Food Safety Forum. While food prices have been leading that trend, food producers─who often operate on thin profit margins in China─are feeling squeezed by higher costs for things like fuel and labor. 'When they add chemicals to food, they're looking to make meat leaner or vegetables bigger so they can make more money,' Mr. Sang said.

　　非盈利組織國際食品安全協(xié)會（Global Food Safety Forum）前駐北京代表桑立偉曾說，通貨膨脹飆升進(jìn)一步加劇了這個問題，通脹目前處于三年來的高點。食品價格一直在引領(lǐng)漲價趨勢，但由于燃料和勞動力等成本升高，原本利潤微薄的食品生產(chǎn)者更是感到壓力。桑立偉說，他們往食品里加化學(xué)添加劑，是為了讓瘦肉更瘦或蔬菜長的更大，這樣就能賺更多錢。

　　In the recent crackdown, authorities investigated 1,200 criminal cases in which nonedible chemicals illegal for food use were added to food during its production, said the Xinhua report, issued Wednesday. Authorities also destroyed the processing facilities where the chemicals were produced and stored. The campaign is a joint effort between the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Food and Drug Administration, and several other agencies, Xinhua said.

　　新華社周三報道說，在最近的整頓行動中共破獲了1,200起涉嫌將非食用化學(xué)品非法用作食品添加劑的刑事案件。公安機(jī)關(guān)還搗毀了一批生產(chǎn)、倉儲和加工的窩點。新華社說，此次行動是農(nóng)業(yè)部、食品藥品監(jiān)督管理局以及其他多個部門聯(lián)合展開的。