The number of reported food poisoning cases in China fell to 177 from the end of August to the end of December, 15.3 percent down from the same period a year earlier, the Ministry of Health said Monday.

The number of people affected by food poisoning dropped 40 percent to 4,047 over the past four months, the ministry said in a teleconference on catering safety.

It attributed the decline to a nationwide campaign initiated in August on catering sector food safety.

"It played an effective role in enhancing health standards and preventing poisoning cases and intestinal infectious disease," the ministry said.

By the end of last year, all of the country's 1.32 million restaurants and catering units at or above county level had been able to routinely check its suppliers' hygiene certificates when buying raw materials, according to the ministry.

During the campaign, health departments punished almost 150,000 unlicensed catering businesses and uncovered 8,873 violations for illegally using raw materials, such as processing food where the animal had died of disease.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2008)