The authorities will ensure food safety during the coming Spring Festival holiday period by strengthening supervision and inspection on major marketplaces and restaurants, in a latest move of a nationwide campaign to better regulate the food industry, the Ministry of Health said yesterday.

"To ensure food safety over the holiday period, we will severely punish groups or individuals who have illegally added non-food substances and excessive additives into food products," ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said at a news briefing yesterday.

The weeklong Spring Festival holiday period starts on Jan 26 this year, with millions of people expected to head home for family reunions and festivities that require more food supplies than usual.

The latest food safety drive will involve inspectors from seven central government departments focusing on supermarkets, restaurants and food additives manufacturers in seven provinces including Liaoning, Jiangxi, Shandong, Guangdong, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Hebei, where last year's scandal involving tainted dairy products broke out, Mao said.

"We will report any important cases to the public in a timely manner," he said.

Launched on Dec 10 following the tainted-milk scandal, the four-month nationwide campaign aims to ensure that food products do not contain non-food substances or excessive levels of food additives.

(China Daily January 13, 2009)