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.

　　中国说，在为期四个月针对频频出现的食品安全问题进行的打击行动中，公安机关已抓获犯罪嫌疑人2,000多名，关闭了5,000家非法经营企业。中国前不久又爆出了一连串食品污染问题。

　　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，公安机关在北京一家没有营业执照的作坊查获了一批使用受污染大米和一种非法人造甜味剂生产出的粽子。中国国有媒体新华社援引中国食品安全委员会的消息报道说，从今年4月展开行动以来，累计出动执法人员约350万人次，共检查食品生产经营单位近600万户。

　　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.

　　中国政府经常对整顿和大规模抓获行动进行高调宣扬，以显示其在处理社会问题方面的认真性，但不清楚此次抓获行动会对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，国家食品药品监督管理局原局长因收受贿赂被执行死刑。2008年，含有工业化学品三聚氰胺的牛奶导致至少六名婴儿身亡、近30万名婴儿患病，丑闻相关责任人被判处严刑。三聚氰胺事件也促使政府誓言要加强食品监管并对食品行业进行彻底整顿，此后政府成立了食品安全委员会。

　　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.

　　但近几个月新出现的一连串事件表明食品安全问题是多么的根深蒂固。据新华社报道，上个月，河南省数百人食用含瘦肉精的猪肉后患病，一名瘦肉精生产者和经销商被判处死刑，缓期两年执行，另四名涉案人员分别被判处九到15年监禁。瘦肉精会使猪的肌肉长得更快，但人食用后会出现头痛。

　　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.

　　专家说，安全问题与中国食品产业的结构有很大关系，中国食品行业极其分散，导致监管困难。美国食品和药物管理局（U.S. Food and Drug Administration）中国负责人希基（Christopher Hickey）说，中国共有约2亿农户，40万家不到10名员工的食品加工企业。

　　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.

　　政府说希望对农业和食品制造业进行整合，但进展一直较慢，这一定程度上是因为政府需要进行权衡，要让数亿农村居民有活可干。

　　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.

　　北京大学公共卫生学院教授吴明说，执法也是一件需要常抓不懈的工作。她说，大型食品安全行动结束后，监管部门往往很长时间不再采取执法行动，这使得违法人员常常在大规模安全行动开始后先暂避风头，待执法行动结束后再冒出来。

　　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.

　　非盈利组织国际食品安全协会（Global Food Safety Forum）前驻北京代表桑立伟曾说，通货膨胀飙升进一步加剧了这个问题，通胀目前处于三年来的高点。食品价格一直在引领涨价趋势，但由于燃料和劳动力等成本升高，原本利润微薄的食品生产者更是感到压力。桑立伟说，他们往食品里加化学添加剂，是为了让瘦肉更瘦或蔬菜长的更大，这样就能赚更多钱。

　　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.

　　新华社周三报道说，在最近的整顿行动中共破获了1,200起涉嫌将非食用化学品非法用作食品添加剂的刑事案件。公安机关还捣毁了一批生产、仓储和加工的窝点。新华社说，此次行动是农业部、食品药品监督管理局以及其他多个部门联合展开的。