China to launch nationwide food safety offensive

BEIJING, Aug 6 (Reuters) China will launch a nationwide crackdown and propaganda offensive to fight public alarm about unsafe food, the government announced today, as the Olympic Games one-year countdown focused attention on the problem.

The government cabinet, or State Council, had decided to ''launch a quality improvement campaign focused on food safety'', said Zhou Baihua, director of the General Administration for Industry and Commerce, according to the government Web site (www.gov.cn).

Zhou promised a public relations campaign to accompany the crackdown.

''Wage a battle to guide opinion,'' he told officials.

''Comprehensively strengthen opinion and information work.'' Zhou's comments were the latest in a torrent of official statements seeking to cool anxiety among both domestic and foreign consumers about the safety of Chinese food and products.

A range of Chinese exports, from fish and toys to pet food and toothpaste, has been found to be mislabelled, unsafe or dangerously contaminated, creating an international backlash.

Beijing has also been grappling with domestic fears about foods laced with chemicals or bacteria.

''The overall quality of our country's products has been steadily improving, but the situation, especially for food safety, doesn't allow for optimism,'' Zhou said.

''In some respects there are still many problems and weak links.'' This week marks the one-year countdown to Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games, bringing worries about whether athletes will also be exposed to food tainted with chemicals or hormones -- often used in Chinese farming.

Food for athletes would be strictly monitored through every step of farming, processing and transport, Wang Wei, secretary general of the Beijing organising committee for the games, told a news conference on Monday.

''Our country and the Beijing municipal government are taking the food safety issue very seriously, especially for the Olympics,'' Wang said.

Reuters SW DB0947