Reuters AlertNet Lite - China defends food exports amid health scares

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China defends food exports amid health scares

11 Jul 2007 05:13:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

BEIJING, July 11 (Reuters) - China defended the quality of its exports on Wednesday amid a spate of health scares over Chinese-made food and drugs, saying the problem was limited.

The issue has grabbed global attention following a series of deaths in Panama from using poisonous medicine and pet deaths in the United States from substandard feed, as well as cases of tainted Chinese toothpaste in Central America and elsewhere.

Wang Xinpei, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman, told a regular news conference that officials had noted the "doubts and comments" in the international media.

"The problems of several individual products should not be extended to the overall quality of Chinese exports," Wang said. "Chinese products are recognised and accepted by overseas distributors and consumers."

Wang added that China always paid great attention to export quality and had "repeatedly required Chinese exporters to implement contracts strictly and to deliver quality to importers and meet regulations in importing countries".

But China's exports would not be impacted by several recent cases, he said, answering a question about whether food safety issues could jeopardise trade.

Scandals involving substandard food or medicines are reported by Chinese media almost every day.

Public fears about food safety grew in 2004, when at least 13 babies died of malnutrition in Anhui province, in eastern China, after they were fed fake milk powder with no nutritional value.

In the latest case, state media reported that a market in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen sold meat from sick or dying pigs.

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Last updated:Wed Jul 11 05:15:47 2007