The top quality control official has lauded the positive start to the country's four-month special campaign to improve food and product safety.

Li Changjiang, director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said the campaign, launched in late August had "achieved good results".

He urged more effort to carry the campaign through.

He made the remarks yesterday on the administration's website.

In the past three weeks, the Ministry of Agriculture has sent 22 investigation teams to conduct checks on thousands of consumer products including blankets, vaccines, animal products, pesticides and aquatic products, according to a work conference headed by Li.

Early this month Li's administration introduced the nation's recall system for unsafe food products and toys, along with the implementation of a food product logo management regulation.

Moreover, quality watchdogs have also suspended 54 food export bases nationwide and temporarily ceased the export permission certificates of more than 300 toy export companies.

They elevated inspection standards for 142 food export companies nationwide, and identified 92 food export enterprises that had violated the rules.

Meanwhile, industry and trade departments have launched special inspections of pork sales, and inspected 150,000 food markets, more than half of them in rural areas.

As a result the departments have recorded 32,800 cases of individuals and companies making or selling fake, poor-quality food and shut down 2,000 production facilities of various scales.

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has commenced four special campaigns to check drug registration, production, management, medical appliance production and registration.

To date the SFDA has suspended 6,441 drug registration applications, cancelled 578 drug license numbers, the production permission certificates of five drug manufacturers and 1,202 medical appliance companies.

(China Daily September 12, 2007)