China to launch nationwide food safety offensive

China will launch a nationwide crackdown and propaganda offensive to fight public alarm about unsafe food, the government announced.

"The overall quality of our country's products has been
steadily improving, but the situation, especially for food safety, doesn't
allow for optimism," said Zhou Baihua, director of the General
Administration for Industry and Commerce "In some respects there are still
many problems and weak links."
This week marks the one-year countdown to Beijing's 2008
Olympic Games, bringing worries about whether athletes will also be exposed to
food tainted with chemicals or hormones — often used in Chinese farming.