IN this day and age, when enlightened citizens and public servants are expected to cast a wary and watchful eye on the unscrupulous, we are visited by the melamine-tainted milk scandal where four babies have died and many thousands made ill in China. The effects of this scandal have been felt across the world. Money was at the bottom of it, as a Chinese animal feed merchant explained, "melamine costs about US$1 (RM3.40) for each protein count per tonne whereas real protein costs about US$6". The unscrupulous are not just in China, but everywhere in the world where for an extra buck, standards are compromised and criminal practices come into play. Just last year, the United States Food and Drug Administration started criminal investigations into reports that pigs fed melamine-tainted rice protein were slaughtered for public consumption in California; in Japan, less than a month ago, a toxic-rice scandal has shaken the country's reputation for food safety after a miller sold contaminated rice that found its way to several hospitals and a school.

So who looks into our own backyard, checks on food manufacturers who use banned dyes and other harmful ingredients, vegetable growers for pesticide abuse, and farmers for banned drugs to boost the growth of their animals? Who checks on the whole list of products and food manufacturing processes? And will there be no end to the regular occurrences of food poisoning in school cafeterias and hostels? Who monitored the more than RM23 billion worth of food we imported last year? Just like the transport sector, which has far too many players having a finger in the pie, there are also several agencies looking into food issues, like the Health and Agriculture and Agro-based Ministries and Customs. But are their efforts coordinated and well thought out or has it been spotty and sporadic?

Malaysia has been spared the dire consequences of contaminated and dangerous food, but do we wait for the unthinkable? And do we wait for foreigners to tell us that our food is not fit for their consumption, such as when the European Union recently banned our marine products? We need a national food safety authority to come up with regulations to ensure that all food on the table is safe, and that all producers, wholesalers and handlers of food are responsible for complying with the regulations. The food safety authority will be proactive, carry out programmes to let consumers and producers know what they can expect and what they are responsible for, and it must have the clout to come down hard on the irresponsible.