As the National Day holidays and the Mid-Autumn Festival draw near, the Chinese government has urged localities to strengthen food and drug safety and prepare emergency response measures.

Local food and drug authorities should remain on duty 24 hours a day during the holidays and the response mechanism must be ready for food poisoning and adverse drug reaction incidents, according to a circular issued by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).

Supervision of food vendors, including grain, meet, dairy products, alcohol, seafood and health foods must be strengthened and illegal trade of those products must be stopped, said SFDA.

The key places of inspection include tourist spots, towns, rural areas adjacent to cities and areas with dense population.

Wholesale markets, food shops, supermarkets and restaurants must be supervised while sales of drugs and medical equipment at tourist spots must be regulated, it required.

Public awareness of fake and substandard drugs and healthcare product advertisements should be raised to prevent mass drug and food incidents from happening, according to SFDA.

The National Day holidays start from October 1 and end on October 7 and the Mid-Autumn Festival, which celebrates the harvest moon and for centuries has been a time for family re-unions, falls on October 6 this year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2006)