Shanghai has impounded more than 1,000 tons of pork imports since August because the supplies failed quality inspections or had been smuggled, the Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

The crackdown is part of efforts to tighten entry and exit inspections at the country's busiest port, Xinhua reported.

"Shanghai has made great progress in achieving its goal of reaching a 100 percent success rate in the three areas of food import inspection, export packaging checks and the return of smuggled meat, fruit and waste materials," Xu Jinji, the director of the entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau, was quoted as saying.

The city's authorities returned 219 tons of pork products that failed quarantine inspections and 878 tons of illegally smuggled pork products.

Efforts have also been reportedly stepped up to intercept meat smuggled from Japan. The authorities impounded more than 3 tons of beef found in the luggage of arriving passengers, officials said.

The jump in meat smuggling reflects a surge in food prices in recent months, Xinhua quoted the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine as saying.

Since April, Shanghai inspection authorities have recorded 7,295 cases where substandard food products were intercepted and destroyed, and 5,542 cases where substandard produce was prevented from leaving the country, Xinhua reported.

To further food safety issues, the government launched a four-month-long nationwide campaign in late August to crack down on unlicensed food shops and suppliers, and on sales of food products without quality and inspection certificates.

The move aims to help set up a monitoring network to cover the entire sale and manufacturing of food.

(China Daily December 25, 2007)