Chinese official calls farm produce safety a 'major challenge'

BEIJING (AFP) — A top official said China faces a "major challenge" maintaining the safety of its farm produce despite declaring success in a four-month food quality crackdown, state media reported Wednesday.

"Managing 220 million farming families is a lot more difficult than managing, say, 500 large farms," the China Daily newspaper quoted Agriculture Vice Minister Gao Hongbin as saying.

"As a result, trying to improve the quality of China's agri-products will be a major challenge, and not something that can be achieved with a single campaign."

He said regional development imbalances and poor management of agricultural production would remain stubborn hurdles to product quality.

"Maintaining the quality and safety of agricultural products will be an arduous task," he said.

Gao made the comments at a press conference just after declaring "mission accomplished" in a four-month crackdown on unsafe foods and other products that concluded in December, the newspaper said.

"We have successfully completed our mission to improve quality and safety," he said of the campaign.

The government launched the campaign after mounting reports of shoddy Chinese-made goods ranging from seafood to car tyres to children's toys threatened the country's vital export sector last year.