China has always attached great importance to product quality
and food safety, and recently a series of measures have been taken
in this respect, a senior Chinese official said in Geneva on
Thursday.
"Since March this year, in response to some countries' concerns
and media coverage on Chinese food safety, China has subsequently
adopted five important measures," said Zhang Xiangchen, head of WTO
affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
Addressing a meeting of the WTO's Committee on Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Committee), Zhang said the Chinese
government had also "taken legal actions against those enterprises
that broke the law."
"So far, 444 enterprises have been blacklisted by the Ministry
of Commerce; the foreign trade rights of those illegal enterprises
have also been expropriated according to law," he said.
Zhang said Premier Wen Jiabao had recently put forward six
provisions on how to enhance product quality, and a Product Quality
and Food Safety Steering Group has been established under the State
Council.
The State Council has also defined the liability of enterprises
as the first person-in-charge for the product quality and food
safety, as well as the related responsibility of local
governments.
Other measures include a government White Paper presenting in
detail the current food safety situation in China and a four-month
special rectification program on product quality and food
safety.
"These measures clearly demonstrate that China is a country of
high sense of responsibility, and even with only?one percent
of products of inferior quality, the country will not shy away from
or cover them up but spare no efforts in tackling and solving the
problem in an honest manner," Zhang said.
Zhang also expressed hope that WTO members can continuously
strengthen cooperation in the area of food safety to share
management experiences, learn from each other, and together to meet
the global challenges and ultimately achieve the goal of protecting
consumers' health.
"I sincerely hope that our trading partners could continue ...
to enjoy low price, good quality Chinese products and services. Of
course, we will do our parts to ensure the quality and safety of
the products made in China," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2007)