China Says Media Is Hyping Food Problems

Officials check some 90 barrels of bean sprouts at a workshop without a business licence in Xiamen, in southeast China's Fujian province Thursday June 28, 2007. The workshop was found to have used bleaching powder to lighten the color of the bean sprouts. A government spokesman guaranteed the safety of Chinese exports on Thursday, in a rare direct commentary on rising international fears over Chinese products. (AP Photo) (AP)

BEIJING -- China warned the international media against exaggerating its food safety problems and stirring consumer panic, even as its inspectors found substandard children's snacks and more fake blood protein in hospitals.

China's dismal product safety record _ both within and outside its borders _ has increasingly come under the spotlight in both the local and foreign media as its goods make their way through global markets. Major buyers such as the United States, Japan, and the European Union have pushed Beijing to improve inspections.

"I think it would be better if the media would stop playing up this issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Tuesday at a regular news briefing. He warned the widespread media coverage would "lead to panic among consumers."

"China has taken measures and enacted relevant legislation regarding inspection and monitoring of its food export process.

Fears that China's chronic food safety problems were going global surfaced earlier this year with the deaths of dogs and cats in North America blamed on Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine.

U.S. authorities have also turned away or recalled toxic fish, juice containing unsafe color additives and popular toy trains decorated with lead paint. Chinese-made toothpaste has been banned by numerous countries for containing diethylene glycol, a toxic ingredient often found in antifreeze.

Qin acknowledged there are "some illegal and unscrupulous retailers" and also attributed the problems to differences between China's monitoring systems and those of other countries.

His warnings to the media came the same day the central government Web site reported that inspectors in southwest China's Guangxi region found excessive additives and preservatives in nearly 40 percent of 100 children's snacks sampled during the second quarter of 2007.

The snacks _ including soft drinks, candied fruits, gelatin desserts and some types of crackers _ were taken from 70 supermarkets, department stores and wholesale markets in seven cities in the region, it said.

The report did not say whether any snacks were recalled. Calls to the Guangxi Industrial and Commercial bureau rang unanswered Tuesday.

Meanwhile, some 420 bottles of fake blood protein were found at hospitals in Hubei province but none had been used to treat patients, said Liu Jinai, an official with the inspection division of the provincial food and drug administration. No deaths or illnesses were reported.

A shortage of albumin, a primary protein in human plasma that is important in maintaining blood volume, triggered a nationwide investigation in March into whether fakes were being sold. Albumin is used to treat conditions including shock, burns, liver failure and pancreatitis, and is needed by patients undergoing heart surgery.

Beijing has taken steps to clean up safety problems. Inspectors recently announced they had closed 180 food factories in China in the first half of this year and seized tons of candy, pickles, crackers and seafood tainted with formaldehyde, illegal dyes and industrial wax.

Safety officials have also urged better surveillance at all levels and promised to set up a food recall system, the country's first, by year end.