China's Health Ministry made public Wednesday an interim
regulation aimed at strengthening coordination of food safety
inspection in the 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous
regions on the Chinese mainland.
The Ministry is soliciting public opinion on the regulation,
which is posted on its website.
The regulation stipulates that health watchdogs at the
provincial level have to inform their counterparts about cases of
substandard food sold or manufactured within their
jurisdiction.
The two sides should debrief each other through express mail,
direct phone, fax or E-mail.
The Health Ministry is responsible for supervising such
information across the country.
Last year China experienced a string of food safety problems
including steroid-tainted pork, parasite-infested snails, turbots
that contain excessive amount of carcinogens, and ducks that were
fed cancer-causing dye to make their egg yolks red.
Food poisoning claimed 196 lives in China last year, according
to the Ministry.
(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)