Visitors pose for a selfie with Chinese national flags in front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The hall will host several events at the annual two sessions, including the plenary meetings of China's top legislative body and political advisory body. Photo: IC

 

Chinese political advisors attending the ongoing two sessions have proposed speeding up the enactment of the food law to better regulate the order of grain circulation and ensure food security. 

Zhou Jianmin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, put forward the proposal during the session of the CPPCC National Committee, the top advisory body, which kicked off on Thursday. 

The State Council published a draft of the food law for public comment in 2012, but the draft did not become law.

In Zhou's proposal, he suggested that the law should cover all aspects in the food industry such as production and operation, quality and health security and grain industry development.

Legal provisions concerning food security are scattered among some current laws and administrative regulations in China, but there lacks of comprehensive and effective legal system to ensure national food security, which has met with greater challenge since the outbreak of  the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhou told the Global Times.

The imperfection of China's market economy and lack of food regulations have led to many problems in grain circulation, harming the rights and interests of grain producers, consumers and business owners, he added. 

Zhou advised strengthening the management of food security through forming an administrative supervision and inspection system, including determining the power of administrative punishment for the acts of purchasing grain illegally and producing substandard grains. 

Li Kai, a member of the agriculture and rural affairs committee of the CPPCC National Committee, also raised a proposal for food security, advising the speeding up of the development of modern crop seed industry and cultivating grains with independent intellectual property rights as seeds are the basis of the food production.

He also put forward the idea of turning potatoes into staple crops and promoting the application of whole-nutrition potato to make up for shortfalls in food supply.