Chapter 486 Food Safety Act

Before World War I, almost all industries in Australasia were in a state of barbaric growth.

Because the country's development in all aspects is indeed lacking, the government did not impose too many restrictions, but only guaranteed the basic rights of workers.

But the defects of barbaric development are also huge. Take the food industry as an example. Food safety is a commonplace topic in any era. If food safety is not regulated and controlled, the hidden dangers of food safety will always be a potential bomb.

Of course, this does not mean that other countries do not have food safety problems. Even the old powers Britain and France and the emerging power United States have various food problems.

As long as there are capitalists in any industry, corruption is inevitable. Capitalists are profit-seeking. As long as they can create profits, other influences will be ignored.

Don't underestimate the current food problem, which is much bigger than the food problem in later generations. Because there is no more effective supervision, no one knows what is added to the food they eat, and what are the consequences and impacts.

Especially for some small workshops, the raw materials and hygiene issues of food cannot be guaranteed at all, and even the simplest shelf life has no standard.

When Australasia exported a large amount of food to Europe before, some defective and bad products were basically exported to Europe.

But now, after the war, Europe's demand for materials has been greatly reduced, and some bad products have gradually flowed into the market and onto people's tables.

As early as last year when the flu was more serious, Australasia broke out in a food safety incident that shocked the country.

In a batch of rabbit meat cans purchased by the government, something similar to a rat head was found, and it was not an isolated case.

With the reports of major newspapers, excessive mercury, additives and other substances were detected in canned goods, which directly caused the market for canned products to plummet by more than half.

Fortunately, the canned products in the accident did not come from the Royal Cannery, but from a small civilian workshop.

After Arthur was alarmed by this incident, the Ministry of Public Security immediately sent police to seal up the workshop. It turned out that the working environment of the workshop was extremely simple, and rats were crawling around the raw materials. It was natural that rat heads appeared in the cans.

What made Arthur angry was that this small workshop had publicly explained at the beginning of the outbreak of food safety issues that there was no rat in the canned food, but a piece of rabbit meat that looked like a rat head.

But from the scene where the food workshop was sealed, the rat head was a relatively small matter. What was more important was that the food workshop had a large number of unqualified additives. Although they could give the canned food a more delicious taste, they would also cause great physical harm to the users.

At that time, due to the flu, the case was temporarily shelved. Not long ago, the owner of this workshop was fined 100,000 Australian dollars and sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to the property of the owner of the workshop, it is absolutely impossible for him to pay a fine of 100,000 Australian dollars.

So the fine of 100,000 Australian dollars was still imposed on him, which was equivalent to Arthur killing a chicken to scare the monkey, so that those capitalists who were unscrupulous in food would consider the consequences of doing so.

After all, 100,000 Australian dollars is definitely not a small asset, and there are very few in Australasia. Even in old powers like Britain and France, having an asset of 100,000 Australian dollars is definitely a big capitalist.

On the second day after the case was sentenced, the Australian government issued the Food Safety Act, which formally controlled the food industry and ordered all food industries in Australia to make rectifications within a time limit. Those who failed to make rectifications within the time limit would be fined or imprisoned.

The promulgation of the Food Safety Act made people celebrate. After all, after the outbreak of food safety accidents, people began to panic and did not trust the canned food that was flooding the food market before.

The Food Act finally warmed up the canned food industry that had been frozen for a long time. After several months of cold winter, the Royal Canning Food Factory finally restored its previous sales.

The rectification of capitalists is definitely not a short-term process. For capitalists, they must first wait and see the government's attitude towards the implementation of the Food Safety Act.

If the government is determined to control food safety, they will let the workshops and food factories under their hands rectify.

But if this bill is just the so-called thunder and rain, then everyone will do what they should do in the future, and the rat head incident will still reappear.

The Royal Canning Food Factory should be the one that rectified the fastest. In other words, the Royal Canned Food Factory is not rectifying, but inspecting all the production lines of all its factories to ensure that food safety will not occur in the Royal Canned Food Factory.

After all, the Royal Canned Food Factory is under the name of the royal family, so there must be no problems.

Everyone knows that Arthur is the boss behind the Royal Canned Food Factory. If there is a food safety problem in the Royal Canned Food Factory, Arthur's reputation will be the first to be implicated.

Fortunately, the Royal Canned Food Factory has obeyed Arthur's orders from the beginning and strictly controlled food safety.

Of course, some additives cannot be completely eliminated, but generally speaking, they are in line with national food safety regulations.

Including other various royal food factories, all kinds of products produced are in line with the limits stipulated by the state, which is also related to Arthur's own reputation.

All the food factories of the royal consortium have a total annual sales of more than 10 million Australian dollars.

This also means that if the food industry is rectified, the royal consortium will be the one that will be hit the hardest.

But to put it bluntly, this bill does not have much impact on the royal consortium. As long as the food produced by the royal consortium meets national standards, the promulgation of this bill will definitely not have an impact on the royal consortium.

Food safety is definitely a big problem. It not only affects the health of the people, but also whether the country can develop healthily.

With Arthur's attention, a large number of media in Australasia began to report the importance of food safety.

Previous food safety cases, cheese, sausages, canned food, and even various additives added to bread were all reported, and even the names of some workshops with serious food safety problems were attached.

Arthur gave these workshops a rectification period of half a month. If the situation did not improve within half a month, then what awaited them could only be the court's judgment.

Half a month passed quickly, and in Australasia, the government soon organized a food safety investigation to comprehensively check Australasia's food problems.

The first place the inspection team visited was the major food factories of the Royal Consortium. In Arthur's words, the Royal Consortium's enterprises must set an example for the whole country.

As expected, the results of the investigation were soon released. The inspection team investigated more than a dozen large food factories of the Royal Consortium. There was no food safety problem in the hundreds of production lines. In the newspaper reports, the production lines were as clean as new, as if someone cleaned them every day.

The results of the investigation and the news reports made Arthur feel relieved, and also increased the sales of the Royal Consortium's food factories by half in a short period of time.

It can also be confirmed that the Food Safety Act has not impacted the Royal Consortium, and Arthur has successfully set an example for capitalists across the country.

However, in addition to the Royal Consortium's food factories, other food factories inevitably have some problems.

A slaughterhouse on the outskirts of Sydney was found to sell water-injected meat and spoiled beef and mutton. It was immediately closed down and the owner was arrested.

Some canned food factories were also found to have safety problems again. Although most factories have made rectifications, some still do not do as they please.

Arthur was naturally not polite to these people and food factories. Without exception, all those that had made rectifications but still had problems were fined and ordered to stop business for rectification.

As for those that did not make any rectifications, they would not only face high fines, but even their owners would face long-term imprisonment.

During the government's inspection, many capitalists wanted to use their connections to exempt this inspection or reduce penalties.

But Arthur attached great importance to this inspection. He not only ordered Prime Minister Kent to pay attention at any time, but also asked about the progress of the inspection from time to time.

This led to no one daring to plead for these capitalists. After all, politicians are not stupid, and they will not get into trouble casually.

In the first month of the inspection, the Australasian government dealt with dozens of workshops and food factories, and the total fines for these workshops and food factories even exceeded 1 million Australian dollars.

This is not over yet. The number of penalties in the second month was even higher. Not only did it deal with hundreds of small workshops and factories, but it also imposed fines of more than 2 million Australian dollars on these enterprises.

From the inspection reports of the first two months, it can be seen how much impact this major inspection has on the food industry in Australasia.

It has become a habit for Australasia people to pay attention to newspapers every day. Every day, newspapers will publish several companies that have been closed down. Whenever seeing such news, Australasia people can't help but sigh at the greatness of the government and Arthur.

Food safety is definitely a problem that every country has. Australasia is absolutely unique in being able to attach so much importance to food safety and even launch large-scale inspections across the country.

It can be expected that after this inspection, the food industry in Australasia will shrink by at least one third.

After all, the food industry is the easiest industry to get started. Some of the small workshops that have been closed down, even all the employees together are just one family.

Although the impact on the food industry is great, there is also good news. For Australasia people, in the future, there will be no worries about buying various foods. There is no need to worry about food safety issues. You can enjoy any food with confidence.

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