All raw milk and more than 90 percent of vegetables and aquatic products met quality standards in the first half of the year, according to Vice Minister of Agriculture Chen Xiaohua on Saturday.

Chen gave the figures at the Food and Drug Safety Responsibility forum on Saturday, which attracted about 700 participants from various government agencies, businesses and media organizations.

"China's farm produce is generally safe," said Chen. "The Ministry of Agriculture has always attached great importance to the safety of farm produce and has put a focus on the production area."

Chen Xiaohua, Vice Minister of Agriculture, speaking at the Forum on Food and Drug Safety Responsibility Saturday

In an effort to stop food contamination related to production, the ministry has so far announced 41 restrictions on the use of pesticides and 47 for veterinary drugs. In addition, the ministry has taken measures to regulate the use of feed additives.

The ministry is also expanding its scope of supervision for farm produce. Up from the previous 36 cities, there are now 138 large and medium-sized cities across China that are subject to regular tests for farm produce safety hazards, said Chen.

The ministry is also promoting standardized production for the agricultural industry. It has created more than 4,100 standards and established more than 880 national demonstration parks for standardized production. It has also established more than 3,500 provincial-level demonstration parks.

(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang, August 31, 2009)