County governments have a vital role to play in ensuring the success of the government's latest food safety and product quality campaign, the head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said yesterday.

"County governments are the executors of central government rules and therefore carry enormous responsibility. I am delighted to see they have accepted that," Li Changjiang said yesterday during an inspection in Dehui, a county in northeast China's Jilin Province.

Li praised county governments - of which there are 1,636 across the country - for the role they have played in improving product quality and protecting people's heath.

"I am very pleased to see local authorities have implemented the rules in accordance with the State Council's requirements, including buying pork from designated points and disposing of pigs that have died from disease in a safe way.

"The campaign has got off to a good start," he said.

Bian Shubin, head of the Dehui administration for industry and commerce, agreed, saying his local authority had paid great attention to countryside market management.

"We start from the point of purchase, which is when goods enter circulation, so as to prevent unsafe products from reaching the market," Bian said.

The local authority has divided the county into 42 zones, each of which has its own inspector responsible for monitoring and inspecting markets to ensure they maintain standards.

Qiao Wenfang, who is responsible for Hongqi market in Dehui, told China Daily he usually inspected the food markets and delicatessens twice a week.

"Food is a priority, so we mostly focus on that,"he said.

Other less-sensitive com-modities are checked just once a week or once a fortnight.

"We have set up a food safety and product quality network around the city and have told shopkeepers how to operate in accordance with the regulations," Bian said.

(China Daily September 14, 2007)