On June 12, Minister and DCM Zheng Zeguang of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China spoke on measures taken by the Chinese Government to ensure its food and drug safety in an interview with Washington Times.

        Minister Zheng said that China attaches great importance to the issue and has a strict regime in place to monitor and supervise safety of food and pharmaceutical products.

        Regarding the pet food case, Minister Zheng said that the melamine incident was caused by two enterprises which did not have the required certificates for food exports issued by the Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) in China. Legal actions have already been taken against these two companies.

        On the safety of certain Chinese toothpaste, he said that there are different standards concerning the percentage of diethylene glycol (DEG) added among different countries, and according to Chinese scientific research, the toothpaste is safe.

        Minister Zheng said the Chinese Government has taken a series of measures to further strengthen safety of food and drug exports. Steps taken include 100 percent inspection of food being sent to the United States before exported, increased random inspections of exported items like toothpaste, immediate investigation and timely actions taken in response to FDA information and establishment of a blacklist of companies exporting unsafe products.

        Minister Zheng said that statistics show that from 2004 to 2006 more than 99 percent of food and drug exported to the United States from China are safe, and that certain isolated cases should not be blown out of proportion to mislead the American public into thinking that all food and drugs from China are unsafe, which is not the case. It is irresponsible for some people to play politics on this issue.

        Minister Zheng also stressed the importance for the relevant authorities of the two countries to work together on the food and drug safety issue. He said that AQSIQ and US FDA have close working relationship and have agreed to strengthen their cooperation.