In what appears to be a sweeping effort to guarantee food safety, the country's product quality watchdog yesterday released a long list of food manufacturers, whose products it said consumers could eat with confidence.

"Under strict scrutiny, 1,323 businesses engaged in producing wheat flour, vinegar, sauce, cooking oil and rice have been awarded production permits to produce foods labelled with the QS mark for the first time," Li Chuanqing said yesterday.

Li, vice-minister of the State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine, said the arrangement is part of his agency's measure to strengthen food quality control at its base.

Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on February 1 this year. It is traditionally a time for families across China to gather and enjoy huge feasts.

After incidents in which poisonous rice and cooking oil caused complaints and even resulted in some deaths in 2001, the State watchdog launched an investigation, targeting all producers of major food products in China.

By July, the agency had decided to enforce a market access regime for producers of the five major food staples.

Under the scheme, firms failing to meet qualifications for production quality control are not allowed to produce food.

Foods that have not been examined by competent agencies or failed to pass the examinations can not go to market.

Food will be then labelled with the QS mark for consumers, according to State agency sources.

Information about the 1,323 qualified firms is expected to be posted on the agency's website, www.cqi.gov.cn.

The firms are just the first batch of enterprises that have been given the green light. Others in the food industry are required to upgrade their quality control to national standards by July 31, or face penalties from the agency, Li said.

Also yesterday, the agency announced it will waive examinations for three years for 115 enterprises in relation to their performances in improving production quality and satisfying the needs of consumers.

The companies include Eagle Brand Holdings Ltd of Foshan, South China's Guangdong Province and the Shanghai Huili Group.

(China Daily January 15, 2003)