In an effort to ensure the safety of China's food exports, the Ministry of Commerce will provide training on the quality and safety standards of key export markets, according to Assistant Minister of Commerce Lu Jianhua on Saturday.

Lu made the remarks at the Forum on Food and Drug Safety Responsibility in Beijing. It attracted about 700 people from various government agencies, businesses and media organizations.

Lu Jianhua, Assistant Minister of Commerce, speaks at the Forum on Food and Drug Safety Responsibility Saturday in Beijing.

The ministry will further improve service for food exports, watch for changes in key export markets and provide risk alerts as needed, Lu said.

It is also supporting industry associations to compile handbooks for key export destinations, and will continue to organize overseas exhibitions for qualified food and drug exporters.

In a bid to strengthen food and drug exporters' self-discipline, the ministry is formulating blacklists of offenders and setting up an industry credit system.

The ministry is also working with other government agencies to establish a system to trace exported food, help enterprises recall unsafe products and compensate for any losses.

According to Lu, 99.7 percent of food exports to Japan, China's largest food export market, met quality standards last year. From 2004-2007, that number consistently ranged from 99.4 percent to 99.6 percent.

Exports to the US and the EU also reached qualification rates above 99 percent.

(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang, August 31, 2009)