Suicide of government official marks a trying year for Chinese food safety

A senior official, Wu Jianping, from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) threw himself off a building on the 2nd of August after being questioned on allegations of corruption.

This comes after a rocky year for Chinese food safety marred with the execution of the Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of the China Food and Drug Administration for accepting bribes, the death of 16 of American cats and dogs from tainted Chinese pet food, recent poisoned dumplings to Japan and who could forget the cardboard pork bun scandal.

With the world watching this month this recent suicide further damages the government's continued efforts to strengthen the quality and its image in the area of food safety through initiative like the breeding of organic Olympic pork for athletes as well as taking dog off the menu from many Beijing restaurants.

Photo by Dominic Rivard