The European Council on Foreign Relations

Smiley China

Date: 28th September 2011  |  Author: Jonas Parello-Plesner,

Categories: China,
Tags: , china, development aid, food safety

I have spent the past two weeks travelling around China, including Shanghai and Chongqing, with my ECFR colleagues Mark Leonard and Alice Richard. In Chongqing we went out to eat the local hot pot; a quite delicious treat with meat and vegetables thrown into the hot pot in the middle – from which you then try to retrieve something good with your chopsticks. During dinner, I mentioned the ‘gutter’ oil phenomenon, which dampened appetites somewhat.

Gutter oil is what it sounds like: used and discarded oil that is being resold as new for local food stalls. Chinese police have recently busted large criminal gangs that trade in the oil. A friend and seasoned observer of China warned me when I was in the country back in March-April that new food scandals were on the horizon. The reason was simple: the government puts price quotas and controls on basic foodstuffs like oil in order to curb inflation, particularly on household goods. Yet quotas increase the incentive to make money on the side with a less clean product. Basically, it is a typical Chinese dilemma whereby one intervention in the economy sparks other problems.

Food safety is a long-standing issue. Remember the tainted milk just after the Olympics – which was covered up until the happy ending of the Games?  One of the newest, most disgusting inventions is false eggs. One would think that it is not really worth it copying eggs – they are not the most pricey commodity – but still it happens.

The Chinese authorities know that the spotlight is on them both internationally in terms of exports – like the poisonous cat food sent to the US – and internally. In response, the country is implementing a system of ‘smiley face’ stickers in restaurants to assure customers of the quality of food hygiene.  It seems to be inspired by systems already in use around the world.

Notably, my native Denmark has a similar arrangement, where the food safety authorities measure all restaurants with smiley face awards – you can also get an unhappy face or just a ‘straight line’ mouth if there are areas to be improved. I remember from my time with the Danish government that the Chinese government was very keen to be taught about the Danish food safety system. At the time, the Danish authorities were simply too busy assuring Danish food safety to spare capacity to help out the Chinese. 

I pondered the issue with a friend and we decided to make our own little consultancy for the Chinese called ‘Smiley China’ that would explain the structure and workings of the Danish food safety system. We got as far as making a website and flyers. But we never got past a certain point and I left my short stint in private business – but the idea might now be replicated.

At the moment, Europe still sees China as a partner that has to be helped to improve its systems in terms of climate change, energy efficiency, food safety and various social issues. Maybe we should stop putting all this under the heading of ‘development assistance’ and instead start offering it as consultancy services to China?

China needs to change its economic model with its next five year plan to improve its social infrastructure. Here, Europe has a lot to offer – and it could be sold not just handed out. Europe is no longer in the luxurious position of being able to give its expertise away for free, and has to think about doing good and making money at the same time. Smiley China might be the way to go. I look forward to my next visit to a Chinese restaurant, and a chance to put the smiley face system to the test.

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