Reuters AlertNet Lite - Olympic host Beijing launches product safety drive

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Olympic host Beijing launches product safety drive

02 Sep 2007 03:25:09 GMT
Source: Reuters

BEIJING, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Beijing, host of the 2008 Olympic Games, has vowed to shut down unlicensed restaurants and prevent harmful materials from tainting the food supply as part of a nationwide campaign to shore up food and product safety.

Beijing also would ensure that food processors were qualified and bar celebrities or experts from touting the safety of products in medical ads in a bid to crack down on endorsements of shoddy or untested pharmaceutical goods.

"The city would focus its quality checkup on 10 kinds of products, including food, drugs, home appliances and toys," Xinhua news agency said on Sunday, citing municipal officials who kicked off a four-month campaign.

The drive is part of a nationwide campaign announced in late August by Vice Premier Wu Yi in response to a series of food, toy and medical product safety problems that have eroded foreign and domestic consumer confidence in goods "Made in China".

The checkups in Beijing, which hosts the Olympics just under a year from now, will target vegetables, fruit, meat, edible oil, aquatic products, children's food and health food, Xinhua said.

"Currently, the main problem in the city's product quality and food safety lies in small food processing factories and workshops and in the urban-rural fringe areas," Lu Hao, a vice mayor of Beijing, was quoted as saying.

China's quality watchdog on Friday introduced what Xinhua news agency called a landmark recall system for unsafe food products and toys to improve product safety.

Toy firms, under particular scrutiny after a massive recall of Chinese-made toys by U.S. giant Mattel, are to halt production and sales and recall products when defects are found, even if they meet China's safety laws.

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Last updated:Sun Sep 2 03:24:36 2007