China introduces provincial food safety centers

BEIJING -- China will set up 32 provincial food safety monitoring centers as part of a broader plan to build a national network that will cover all counties by 2015.

An official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) said on Tuesday that provincial-level centers and national laboratories on food safety monitoring will be set up for the comprehensive management of food safety.

Chen Xiaohong, NHFPC's vice minister, said these centers and laboratories will provide "scientific evidence" for national standards on food safety and detecting loopholes in supervision.

According to Chen, the laboratories will be managed by 38 provincial-level centers for disease prevention and control.

Food safety is a sore point for millions of Chinese consumers. The  food industry is hit by a number of scandals in the past few years.

Public trust in domestic dairy companies was eroded in 2008, when melamine-tainted milk killed six infants and made thousands of others ill.