PRC uses leading exporters as models

Only then can they enter the chilly, white-tiled room where they pack Alaska salmon for American dinner tables and Russian cod for McDonald’s fish sandwiches in Japan. The Japanese-owned company says the fish already has been tested for more than 100 banned chemicals.

“I am very confident in saying our food is excellent and the safest in the world,” Zhong Yuhua, the general manager, told reporters who were invited on a government-organized tour of three food exporters in Shandong province, southeast of Beijing.

Fusheng is part of a Chinese food industry elite of export-oriented companies that, often with foreign help, have improved quality to meet import standards in Japan, the United States and elsewhere.

As the government tries to repair the battered “Made in China” brand, it is holding them up as models to reassure foreign consumers and to help improve the rest of the industry.

“Foreign companies have done a good job. They can play a leading role. Other companies can learn their advanced management model to promote quality control,” said Huang Kunlun, the executive deputy director of the Agriculture Ministry’s product testing center.

The reputation of China’s US$31 billion-a-year (euro22 billion-a-year) food export industry has taken a beating after incidents over toxic chemicals in Chinese pet food and toothpaste and banned drugs in seafood. Other exporters have been hammered by recalls or warnings about Chinese goods ranging from faulty tires and baby cribs to toys tainted with lead paint.

U.S. authorities restricted imports of Chinese shrimp, eel and three types of fish in July after tests found unapproved drugs in some shipments. Chinese officials criticized the move as excessive. Last month, American officials announced that one Chinese supplier was cleared to resume shipments.

At Fusheng, visitors saw masked and gloved employees cut and pack salmon in a tidy workshop. Public areas were scrubbed clean. In bathrooms, signs over the sink reminded employees to soak their hands in disinfectant after washing.

Conditions in the rest of the industry vary widely, from companies with the newest equipment and rigorous inspection to competitors that are accused of substituting cheaper materials and skimping on hygiene. Chinese authorities argue that product liability cases have involved only a small fraction of China’s food processors.

Even before the recent safety cases, regulators were using leading exporters as industry role models, organizing delegations of managers to study their plants.

“A lot of visitors from companies across the country come to see how we ensure food safety,” said a spokesman for the Longda Food Group Inc., who would give only his surname, Jiang. “Last year we had 200 groups of visitors.”

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