Sun Baoguo, of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, urged Chinese consumers to rethink the cuisine culture that emphasizes "color, smell, and taste" as a measure to help promote food safety.

Sun said China's foot safety is faced with many challenges in the production of raw materials, processing, supervision, and cooking customs, which in his view contributes to the use of illegal additives.

"Originally, mantou (steamed bun) is not that white, duck's egg is not that red, and pork is not that lean. But if the demands of consumers surpass the original condition, illegal additives may be used to meet those unreasonable demands. And this may lead to food safety issues," Sun told Outlook Weekly, a news magazine affiliated with Xinhua News Agency.

Previously, nine members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) called on the food processing industry to reduce the use of additives in meeting the demands of "color, smell, and taste."