Economy

China beefs up food safety control in rural areas

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-15 14:06

BEIJING - The State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China said Tuesday that it will step up the supervision of food, dairy and liquor products sold on the market in rural areas in order to ensure food safety during market circulation.

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Local market supervision bodies will crack down on illegal practices such as selling fake food products and liquors, including Chinese white and red wine, said Wang Yuji, director of the Regulation Department for Market Circulation of Food under the administration.

Wang said the local bureaus will strengthen the management over the circulation and registry of dairy products, and strictly urge sellers of dairy products to check the quality of the products and also the authenticity of the suppliers.

The local authorities are also asked to strike behaviors such as the abuse of food additives.

According to official data, supervision departments for industry and commerce nationwide have launched checks on more than 8.5 million sellers of food products and over 180,000 trade markets in the first four months this year. A total of 12,800 sellers were found operating without business licenses and were ousted from the market.