A white paper issued on Friday by the Information Office of China's State Council revealed that 85.1 percent of the country's food products passed quality checks in the first half of the year.

The paper emphasized the proportion of Chinese food products that passed quality inspections had risen steadily in recent years, rising from 77.9 percent in 2006 to the current figure of 85.1 percent.

The 29-page white paper, the first of its kind on China's food safety, provides a brief introduction to food production and quality and discusses the government's work to improve its domestic food supervision system and supervision of imported and exported food.

The paper said the qualification rate of exported Chinese food had remained higher than 99 percent for many years while the quality of imported food was generally high with no serious food safety incidents.

The paper said the government, adhering to a "people-centered" approach, attaches great importance to food safety.

"China has long established and improved food safety supervision systems, comprehensively strengthened food safety legislation and construction of a standard system, and promoted international exchanges and cooperation on food safety," the paper said.

A slew of media reports have emerged in recent months detailing various food safety problems in China. The government has criticized some foreign media reports, accusing the international press of playing up China's food safety problems.

Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on Aug. 3 that some foreign media had "viciously sensationalized" product quality problems and food scares concerning a small number of Chinese goods or companies.

Some media have fabricated safety problems in order to block imports of Chinese goods, which is de facto trade protectionism, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2007)