China reports improvement in quality of agricultural produce

China's agricultural produce including domestic animals and aquatics in 2009 showed improvement with regards to safety standards.

 

The Ministry of Agriculture released an annual report based on monitoring results of agricultural products, which had met safety standards in 2009. The rate for safety standard was 99.5% for domestic animals, up 0.8 percentage points, and 97.2% for aquatic products, up 1.5 percentage points.

 

In 2009, the inspections were more extensive and were conducted in 259 large and medium-sized cities, compared with only 36 major cities previously, the ministry said.

 

In order to further improve the quality and safety of agricultural produce, the ministry said it would step up the control over the use of prohibited pesticides and veterinary drugs in 2010.