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One-fifth of PRC's domestic food fails standards: agency

One-fifth of products made in China for domestic consumption failed quality and safety standards, the government said, while a state-run newspaper yesterday stressed the need to raise quality guidelines to meet international levels.

China's dismal product safety record -- both within and outside its borders -- has increasingly come under the spotlight in both the local and foreign media as its goods make their way through global markets. Major buyers such as the US, Japan, and the EU have pushed Beijing to improve inspections.

In the first half this year, 19.1 percent of products made for domestic consumption were found to be substandard, China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement posted on its Web site late on Tuesday.

Canned and preserved fruit and dried fish were the most problematic, commonly because of excessive microorganisms and additives, the agency said.

The survey focused on food, common consumer goods, farming machinery and fertilizers.

More than 93 percent of products made by large enterprises met standards, while only about 73 percent of products made by small enterprises met standards, the agency said.

In an editorial yesterday, the state-run China Daily newspaper said food exported by China sometimes did not meet standards of importing countries because of a difference in quality guidelines.

"This is not because the food itself was of low quality but because the standards we use may be lower," the editorial said. "It is becoming increasingly urgent to raise the food safety standards to international levels."

Fears about China's chronic food safety problems surfaced earlier this year with the deaths of dogs and cats in North America blamed on pet food containing Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine.

US authorities have also turned away or recalled toxic fish, juice containing unsafe color additives and toy trains with lead paint. Chinese-made toothpaste has been banned by numerous countries for containing diethylene glycol, a toxic ingredient often found in antifreeze.
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