Steps urged to reduce tainted food

Liu said that from 2002 to 2011, nearly 30 percent of the 2,559 rejected export cases from China to the European Union involved an excessive level of mycotoxin.

"Chinese authorities regard mycotoxin prevention and control as a top priority," said Jin Fazhong, deputy director of the agriculture ministry's agro-food safety supervision department.

He said a nationwide biotoxin risk assessment for agricultural products has been launched with research, funded by the government, that started in 2012.

Liu, chief scientist of a national research project on mycotoxin, said his team has developed a control mechanism for mycotoxin prevention and set up a mycotoxin database in the past few years.

Markus Klingler, agricultural counselor of the Delegation of the European Union to China, praised what he called China's "impressive" achievements and suggested enhancing international collaboration in combating mycotoxin.