China defends food exports, plans to shut small firms

The scandals have grabbed global attention after patients in Panama died from poisonous ingredients in medicine and pets died in the United States from substandard feed, while tainted Chinese toothpaste was found in Central America and elsewhere.

A notice posted by the country’s quality watchdog on Wednesday said China would raise hygiene requirements for food processors and tighten the approval process for new drugs.

“By 2009, the number of small food processors will probably drop by 50 percent, and by 2012 no uncertified producers will remain,” the notice said.

Rules would restrict the re-use of ingredients, improper additives and banned substances.

China had more than 448,000 food producers of which half had incomplete certification and one-third no certification at all, the notice said. Three-quarters employed fewer than 10 people.

Ministry of Commerce spokesman Wang Xinpei told a regular news conference officials had noted the “doubts and comments” about Chinese food and drugs in the international media.

“The problems of several individual products should not be extended to the overall quality of Chinese exports,” Wang said. “Chinese products are recognized and accepted by overseas distributors and consumers.”

Wang added that China always paid great attention to export quality and had “repeatedly required Chinese exporters to implement contracts strictly and to deliver quality to importers and meet regulations in importing countries”.

China’s exports would not be impacted by several recent cases, he said, answering a question about whether food safety issues could jeopardize trade.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email