A new health food regulation, designed to strengthen supervision and control of industry irregularities, is expected to go into effect before the end of this year, said an official with China's top food and drug safety watchdog on Tuesday.

The new regulation, drafted by the same group, has been examined by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, and is in the legislative pipeline.

Liu Pei, director of the policies and laws department of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) said the regulation concerns the "examination, approval, production and market supervision of health food" and will help authorities deal with problems such as use of illegal additives, incorrect media reports and exaggerated promotion.

Liu said government departments, including those related to agriculture, food quality inspection, industry and commerce, health and food and drug safety should join hands to ensure food safety "from the farmland to the dining table."

He said the public should buy health food labeled with state-sanctioned markings.

To ensure safe use of drinks, food and medicine, the SFDA will also be promulgating new regulations concerning recalls of medical facility and adverse drug reaction (ADR) prevention in the near future, Liu said.