China to establish long-acting food safety supervision scheme for rural markets

People buy food in a rural market in China. [File Photo: ngzb.gxnews.com.cn]

China's food and drug watchdog says the country is going to improve food safety supervision in rural markets.

Zhang Jing is a director of food safety with the China Food and Drug Administration.

"We'll innovate supervising measures and promote the long-term establishment of those measures. For example, we'll consider the situation of local industries and folk customs to work out practical measures. We'll also set up a well-established system to trace issues back to the responsible persons, and an interactive food safety management scheme involving all aspects of society."

Food safety has been a hidden danger threatening the health of China's rural residents, due to a lack of legal and security consciousness among manufacturers and consumers.

An operation that began in August has cracked down on over 1300 fake and shoddy food manufacturers and sellers in the country's rural food markets.

However, Zhang says the overall level of the rural food industry remains low, and there're potential troubles in supervising some sectors, including street peddlers, food delivery trucks, dining cars, and online food sellers.