After a six-month investigation, food inspectors have found that the country's rice and cooking oil products are of "excellent quality," and cases involving contaminated rice is very rare, the State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine said on Sunday.

Immediately after incidents in which poisonous rice and cooking oil caused complaints, and even ended in some deaths in 2001, the State watchdog launched a sweeping investigation last September, targeting all producers of major food products in China.

The inspection mission, touted as the largest in decades, sent 100,000 inspectors to examine 60,085 businesses engaged in producing wheat flour, vinegar, sauce, cooking oil and rice, the agency said in a document made available to China Daily Sunday night.

After checking 50,576 samples of the food processors and producers, the agency compiled a list, in which it detailed the names of 806 medium-sized and large enterprises whose products and manufacturing conditions have met national standards, said Xu Bing, a staff member with the agency.

The list will be released on one of the official websites of the agency (http://www.cqi.gov.cn/) and will appear in the China Quality News today, according to Xu.

Last year, several hundred tons of contaminated rice and cooking oil appeared in markets in Guangdong, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, according to earlier Chinese newspaper reports.

In some cases, industrial mineral oil was found to have been mixed with rice to give it a white and shiny appearance. But the food caused headaches and diarrhoea when eaten, health experts said. An emergency notice issued by the Ministry of Health late last year warned that poisonous mineral oil had also been found in mustard and salad oil in some regions. Reports on health problems as a result of eating these foods are not available.

Sunday's release of the food safety inspection came less than 10 days before Spring Festival - which falls on February 12- the most important event for Chinese people to celebrate with family gatherings and banquets. Enterprises failing to meet the food standards will be punished and ordered to improve, with their names made public, according to Xu.

The country will also continue to update its national food codes with regard to farm chemical residue and food additives, sources with Xu's agency said.

In Beijing, Vice-Mayor Liu Zhihua promised last week that the municipal government will strike hard at illegal food processors this year. It will set up 100 counters in the city's stores and supermarkets promoting healthy agricultural products.

(People's Daily February 4, 2002)