China has succeeded in providing enough food for most of its populaion of 1.3 billion, but food safety has emerged as a new national concern, an article in Outlook Weekly said.

The making and selling of troubled foods such as poisonous rice and infected chickens has been rampant in some places in recent years, harming people and undermining public confidence, the article said.

One of the most startling examples of the latter was the case of a Nanjing-based food company found to be recycling year-old stuffing for this year's mooncakes. Mooncakes are a traditional food for China's Mid-Autumn Festival, which fell on October 1 this year.

Domestic food companies suffered a sharp drop in mooncake sales after that story broke.

Such problems may plague the entire food industry, the article warned.

The reported troubles don't reflect the vast improvements in food safety in China in recent years. About 88 per cent of domestic-made foods passed hygienic standards in 2000, up from 65 per cent in 1982, the Ministry of Health said.

Still, that also means 12 per cent of food on the market is substandard and poses a threat to consumers.

The article quoted Health Vice-Minister Yin Dakui as saying the problem is difficult to address despite the government's current efforts to eliminate them from the market. More than 100 deaths in China every year are caused by poisonous foods, he said.

That figure may be low, though. A ministry inspector said the death toll is likely much higher because usually less than 5 per cent of such cases are ever discovered in developing countries.

According to a survey by the magazine, more than 90 per cent of recipients said they are not confident about the safety of foods they eat every day.

"The development of domestic food industry will be very difficult if consumers don't trust food makers," the article quoted Dong Jingsheng, deputy secretary-general of the China National Consumers Association.

Some also worry that domestic food makers will fail to compete well after China joins the World Trade Organization, given that most WTO members have more vigorous safety standards for food. If domestic food makers can't improve their image, Chinese people won't buy their products, the article warned.

Fixing these problems is a tough job. Every part of the food production process must be examined.

For example, the contamination of many vegetables and animals is caused by pollution in the water and soil. That's beyond the scope of food administration, the article noted.

The over-use of pesticides and veterinary medicine is also a major threat of food safety. The Ministry of Health said most of the country's food poisoning incidents last year were caused by illegal use of some banned pesticides and medicines.

The Ministry of Agriculture earlier this year probed 500 feed-processing plants and animal-breeding farms to find 19.9 per cent used illegal medicine.

Hygienic standards and quality inspection measures lag far behind the rapid development of the farming and breeding industry in recent years, the article said.

Yet ignorance and greed among food manufacturers is the key culprit.

Many farmers feed their animals with excessive additives to yield more meat. Some even add toxic materials to their products, the article said.

Such problems cannot be eliminated unless the government strengthens administrative measures on food safety, the article said.

The production and distribution of food is now supervised by various government departments without effective co-ordination, the article noted.

For example, some types of pesticides banned by the Ministry of Agriculture can be legally produced according to rules of other parts of the government, so they're used by farmers.

And public health departments and quarantine departments, although both inspect foods, don't have a clear division of responsibilities.

The number of government agencies involved in food administration should be reduced to improve efficiency. The government can opt to form a single department to supervise food safety "from farm to table," the article suggested.

Some of this is being done. The Ministry of Health last year re-assessed the current standard on more than 400 food items.

A new food safety standard system is expected to be launched before China's WTO entry, which is expected to occur in November, the article said.

Some experts and officials have suggested modifying the current Law on Food Safety to add more specific and practical rules.

Some also suggest tougher penalties for violators. Under the current law, the most severe penalty is a fine of 50,000 yuan (US$6,040).

It is necessary to raise the bar and make it clear to violators that they will no longer get off just with a fine, the article said.