Space snacks to land on Chinese shelves soon

BEIJING, July 25 (Reuters) Chinese will be able to eat like stronauts when snacks developed for the country's space programme hit supermarket shelves later this year.

Earth-bound buyers can try cosmic chocolate and space desserts developed by the Scientific Research and Training Centre for Chinese Astronauts and a Shanghai food company for the country's ''taikonauts'', Xinhua news agency said.

A major selling point would be quality, said Chen Bin, head of the centre's food and nutrition section and a self-proclaimed ''space chef''.

Stringent quality controls would prove especially attractive to consumers reeling from a series of scandals over food safety in recent weeks, Xinhua cited Chen as saying.

''For example, we required the air in the food workshop should be as clean as that in a pharmaceutical workshop,'' Chen said.

REUTERS JK ND0858