China and the United States will sign a memorandum of understanding on food safety by the end of this year enabling the two sides to resolve food safety issues more effectively, said a senior Chinese quality control official on July 17.

    A delegation led by a vice-ministerial-level official of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was set to come to Beijing in August to discuss the MOU with Chinese food safety regulators, said Li Yuanping, an official in charge of the safety of import and export products at the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

    "Both sides are aware of the necessity of establishing such a mechanism to resolve food safety issues more effectively amid rising disputes," Li said.

    Li made the remark while accompanying a group of foreign and domestic reporters to a juice-processing plant in the suburbs of Beijing, in an attempt to demonstrate food quality controls in China.

    Li said the two countries would first hold a meeting in Beijing between July 31 and August 4 to discuss the detention of Chinese catfish, basa and dace, as well as shrimp and eel.

    The U.S. representatives will be Rich McKeown and William Steiger, chief of staff and special assistant to the Secretary for International Affairs with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

    They would also have preliminary discussions with Chinese food safety regulators concerning the MOU and the establishment of a collaboration mechanism on food safety, according to Li.

    Li explained that misunderstandings concerning different practices of food exports between the two countries may have led to mounting cases of substandard Chinese food exports in recent months.

    While all U.S. companies are allowed to export food, Chinese enterprises have to obtain a health certificate from the administration before they can export, and only 12,000 of the nation's 500,000 food producers are qualified at present, Li said.

    However, a few illegal food producers had somehow managed to export substandard food without detection.

    "Illegal exports are an important factor behind the increasing food scare incidents related to China recently," Li said.

    Among 177 batches of substandard food imports from China listed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April, 77 cases or 56 percent, were illegal exports, said Li.

    In order to prevent food produced by illegal exporters from entering the overseas markets, the administration said all exports would bear the sign "CIQ" meaning "China Inspection and Quarantine" on the exterior packaging from Sept. 1 after they are inspected by the administration.

    Importers would be able to trace the original producer of the food according to a code printed on the sign, and ascertain from the administration's Website (www.aqsiq.gov.cn) whether the producer was a qualified exporter, Li said, adding that all the 12,000 qualified producers are listed on the Web site.

    The administration earlier blacklisted 14 companies for planning to export substandard food products and banned them from further exports, with the companies being named and shamed on its Website.

    Li said the administration would check the Websites of the food safety regulator in importing countries for timely information about problems found in Chinese exports, and would investigate issues immediately.

    It would also ask Chinese customs to help detect illegal exports.

    Li stressed that China imposed a very strict supervision of exported goods and more than 99 percent of Chinese exports were qualified.

    He said the recent suspension of the sale of chicken feet, pig ears and other animal products from seven U.S. companies was conducted according to a memorandum of understanding signed between the administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    The meat was contaminated with salmonella, additives and veterinary drugs, according to the administration.

    In response to criticism from abroad, he said China was not counteracting to overseas complaints by picking holes in imports into the country.

    It's not the first time China has suspended meat imports from the U.S. -- the administration suspended contaminated meat imports from 15 U.S. companies in 2006, Li said.

    Meat imports from 13 of those companies have resumed, according to Li.

    Mei Xinyu, a trade expert with the Ministry of Commerce, agreed the recent spate of food safety problems between the two countries are coincidental. He said similar cases of food safety scare have happened in the past as well.

    Mei said the incidental cases of food safety problems should be understandable, but he also said it was a good opportunity for China to improve its food safety.