| China proposes closer co-op with ASEAN to secure food safety |
| Sunday,October 28,2007 Posted: 09:35 BJT(0135 GMT) xinhua |
China on Sunday put forward an eight-point proposal for further cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in food safety. China and the ASEAN should increase cooperation and exchanges in the field of food safety and jointly shoulder the responsibility of ensure their food products are safe, said Chinese senior quality inspector Wei Chuanzhong. The two sides should promote exchanges in their laws and regulations, standards and information about food safety, and make them more transparent, said Wei, deputy director of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. Wei also proposed both China and the ASEAN should increase the exchange of visits by food safety managers and technical personnel to improve their level of management and technical support. The two sides should establish liaison for providing with each other timely information related to food safety, Wei said in a keynote speech at the first meeting of China-ASEAN ministers of quality supervision and inspection, held in the southern China city of Nanning. Under Wei's proposal, any side which is to take new safety measures on food products should inform the other side in advance. His proposal also covers the responsibility of both sides for supervision to ensure safety of each other's food products, the crackdown on illegal food trade and consultations at the department-level every two years over the safety of food products for import and export. "Based on the above-mentioned eight-point proposal, the Chinese side has drafted the Nanning Joint Statement and hoped it would be adopted at the meeting," he said. Wei did not slide over the problems in some Chinese products, citing two Chinese companies' illegal act to add melamine in the raw material of pet food exported to the U.S. market, as well as the excessive lead content in the paint of some toys Chinese companies produced for U.S. toy giant Mattel despite the difference in Chinese and foreign standards for product quality and safety. It is a lasting theme of human society to improve product quality and ensure product safety, he said, adding that this calls for more international exchanges and cooperation, including timely providing media with objective and accurate information and avoiding politicalization of product quality and safety. |
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