Commerce Minister
Bo Xilai said on Friday he was confident of victory in the "special war" against poor product quality despite its highly demanding targets.
"Although the goals are difficult to achieve, we'll do our utmost to ensure the campaign is successful," Bo told reporters after he met a Russian trade delegation in Beijing.
The government launched a four-month "special war" on Thursday to improve food safety and product quality after a series of safety scares involving Chinese products worldwide. The campaign, which will run to the end of the year, will ban false advertising, require all food producers to be certified and step up inspections of food, drugs and agricultural products.
Among the 20 detailed goals set, there are 12 "100 percents".
For instance, 100 percent of food producers are required to be licensed, while 100 percent of agricultural product wholesale markets in cities will be monitored, and 100 percent of suppliers of raw materials for exported products will be inspected.
Bo said the goals reflected the country's determination to improve quality.
"They're practical, scientific and careful," he said.
"Even if only 1 percent of products have quality problems, we will take this very seriously as it's related to public health."
To achieve the goals, the minister said "two chains, a system and a network" were necessary.
The chains refer to the supervision of the entire process of industrial and food production. The system is a product recall and accountability system, while the network refers to a comprehensive quality monitoring system in every part of society.
Vice-Premier Wu Yi, the newly appointed head of a Cabinet-level panel on food safety and product quality, also said at a Thursday meeting that it was important to establish and develop such supervisory chains and systems in order to win the battle.
Bo said he believed food safety and product quality in the country would see a "remarkable increase" in half a year.
As a specific measure to ensure food safety, the country's top quality watchdog also announced on Friday that a market access labeling system now covers 16 categories of food products including rice, biscuits, beer, alcohol, milk powder, bottled water and instant noodles.
The system, launched in 2001, requires food companies to obtain production licenses and put the QS (Quality Safety) logo on their products.
Figures from the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine show that around 71,000 food production licenses have so far been issued to firms in the 16 categories, accounting for 95 percent of the market in their respective sectors.
Meanwhile, supervision of firms with food production licenses has been strengthened. By the end of June, 1,276 food production licenses had been withdrawn, cancelled, revoked or nullified due to the production of sub-standard food.
The administration said unlicensed producers and products without the QS logo must not enter the market, and warned consumers not to use such products.
"If there's the logo, the product is safe; if not, please don't buy them," it said.
The AQSIQ said that the introduction of the system had greatly improved food quality.
For example, compared with the existing acceptance rate of more than 95 percent, only about 62 to 63 percent of soy sauce and vinegar were up to standard in 2001, when the system was launched.
(China Daily August 25, 2007)
