URUMQI, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Problematic snacks are taken off the shelves as authorities in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have been waging a campaign to clean up the market on grounds of schools and kindergartens since the start of the year.
The move is aimed at rooting out food safety hazards and improving food safety on school grounds, said a source of the regional administration for market regulation.
As of March 31, more than 9,000 kg of the snacks, which are cheap, but considered unhealthy, have been taken off the shelves, including 174 kg of latiao, a kind of spicy wheat flour sticks.
Latiao is quite popular with primary and middle school students, but the snack is high in oil, salt and additives, and constant consumption is detrimental to the health of children and teenagers, according to the source.
As the snack is easy to make and the threshold is low, there has been a rampancy with production, which is exposed by the state broadcaster to have low hygienic conditions, and with the products containing too many additives.
