FACTBOX - China's Recent Steps to Quell Product Safety Fears
Date: 20-Aug-07
Country: US
Here is a list of some recent steps taken by the government to reassure the public and crack down on those deemed responsible.
-- April 2007: The two dozen members of the ruling Communist Party's Politburo listen to reports about food safety at a central meeting convened by President Hu Jintao to address worries about foods drenched in pesticides and filled with additives.
-- June 6: China issues a five-year plan to counter dangerous medicines and bad foods. It calls for inspections at farms, factories and ports and promises nationwide monitoring of adverse reactions to drugs as well as strict controls to stop farmers and producers over-using pesticides and additives.
-- July 10: Zheng Xiaoyu, former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, is executed for taking some 6.5 million yuan ($850,000) in bribes to let medicine companies slip past his regulatory net. His unusually swift execution, less than two months after sentencing, is said to be intended to deter other wayward officials.
-- July 27: A small team of top officials is set up to steer efforts to repair the stained reputation of the country's food and products at home and abroad.
-- Aug. 4: The Commerce Ministry says it has blacklisted 429 Chinese exporters for violating trade rules following a series of food, drug and other health scares. The list includes two pet food manufacturers that had exported to the United States.
-- Aug. 6: The government cabinet, or State Council, says it will launch a nationwide food safety crackdown to improve quality standards, two days ahead of the one-year countdown to Beijing's Olympic Games.
-- Aug. 9: China bans two toy factories in the booming southern province of Guangdong from exporting toys after a high-profile recall of Mattel products because of fears about lead in paint. Officials pledge to spend more than $1 billion to improve food and drug safety by 2010, and to give regulators stronger oversight powers.
-- Aug. 12: A Chinese court sentences a television reporter to one year in jail for fabricating a report that Beijing dumpling makers used cardboard as a filling.
-- Aug. 15: The Chinese embassy in Washington announces that China will send delegations to the United States in August and September to discuss food and product safety following the spate of product recalls.
Source: Reuters
