Japan seeks to formalise food safety agreement with China

Japan plans to strike a bilateral deal with China on food safety, following the case of poisoned frozen dumplings in Japan two years back.

Tokyo hopes to reach a formal agreement with Beijing by the time Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama visits China for an expo in Shanghai, possibly in early May.

The envisaged deal, which would allow for mutual on-site inspections of facilities processing food for export, has been sought by both nations since last October, when Hatoyama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao agreed to create a new initiative to ensure food safety.

Concerns lingered on the Japanese side that striking such a deal before the dumpling poisoning case was settled would leave the case up in the air.