March 24, 2011

China will double the number of cities in a pilot programme that traces certain foods back to their source if a quality issue arises, commerce officials said in response to a scandal involving illegal additives used in pork production last week.

The pilot programme launched by the Ministry of Commerce only tracks common Chinese staples, pork and vegetables, produced in the country and includes 168 designated slaughterhouses and 93 large wholesale markets in 10 cities.

Suzhou and Wuxi in Jiangsu province, one of the provinces where the tainted meat scandal was first discovered, were among the 10 cities named in the pilot programme. The ministry plans to include 10 more cities into the programme to further advance the quality tracking system for pork and vegetables.

The key to the programme is establishing a reverse tracking system up and down the food chain from farm production to the whole distribution system including grocery stores and dining tables in 20 cities, said Yao Jian, a spokesperson with the ministry, without specifying the names of the newly added cities.