Best quality food during Olympics assured

Best quality food during Olympics assured
By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-15 07:06

This year's work plan calls for tougher measures against high-risk products such as toys, garments, furniture, paint and detergent, too.

More than 600 Chinese toy makers have had their export licenses revoked since August to ensure safety, Pu said.

"We have inspected all 3,000-plus toy makers thoroughly for export in the special campaign."

Pu said that since design flaws were behind many quality problems, the administration made it mandatory for all toy designs, even those provided by importers, to go through safety checks.

Last year's safety scares, however, didn't affect China's toy export. Customs figures in Guangdong Province, which produces 70 percent of the country's toys for export, show export demand rebounded late last year despite many recalls.

The value of toys exported by Guangdong fell 5.4 percent in September year-on-year, but bounced back to register a year-on-year increase of 27.6 percent in October.

Achievements of special campaign

Since the start of a four-month special campaign in August

2,450 quality control officials, or one-third of the country's total, have been dispatched to the countryside to ensure safe products are sent to factories and plants;

6,000 export-oriented farms have been inspected;

168 batches of illegally imported food or sub-standard raw material have been returned or destroyed;

120,000 batches of food exports have been labeled safe after inspection and quarantine procedures;

98,000 food-processing companies have been awarded production licenses;

120,000 small food plants, with less than 10 employees, have signed quality commitment letters;

12 categories of illegal food processing, including illegal production of baby-formula milk powder, have been banned;

33,000 manufacturers of consumer products have established quality records;

23 ministerial- or vice-ministerial-level delegations have been sent abroad to negotiate food safety and product quality issues, 47 bilateral agreements signed and 23 cooperative mechanisms set up; and

Spot checks on 11 types of consumer products, ranging from construction material to home appliances and spare parts for vehicles, have shown 96.5 percent of the 475 samples have met the set standards, up 12.6 percent year-on-year.

Source: General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine