China will tighten supervision and management of domestic food production and processing to ensure quality, safety and hygiene in 2007, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China (AQSIQ).

The Administration said monitoring would focus on food additives, packaging, containers and production facilities. Firms that produced these products would also be monitored.

Companies that manufactured fake or shoddy goods would be punished in line with laws while firms using food additives arbitrarily or adding toxic and harmful ingredients to processing would be penalized.

The administration said only firms that passed government qualifications tests could process food. Twenty-nine firms had been licensed to produce plastic food packs, containers and facilities.

China has more than 3,700 companies engaging in the production of plastic bags, containers and tools for food making. More than 1,000 are poorly-equipped small firms with each having fewer than 10 employees.

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2006)