CHINA:Dumplings stuffed with cardboard, dirty water in drink dispensers, fake rabies injections, meat from dying animals sold for slaughter - Chinese consumers are increasingly fearful about food and medicine safety and the government has stepped up its campaign to improve standards.
Officials have publicly admitted that failure to tackle food and drug quality problems could damage the nation's global credibility and provoke social instability.
Consumers were horrified by a report on TV in China this week which showed a dumpling-maker stuffing steamed buns with cardboard picked up off the street.
With exports so crucial to China's economic rise, the government also needs to limit the damage to the "Made in China" brand abroad after revelations that patients in Panama died from poisonous ingredients in medicine and pets died in the US from substandard feed, while tainted Chinese toothpaste was found in Central America and elsewhere.
Shao Mingli, director of the state food and drug administration, called on manufacturers to tighten up standards. "Companies are the people with the first line of responsibility for food and drug safety and must strengthen management, uphold the law in their operations, honestly follow regulations and guarantee safety," Mr Shao said.
"Food and drugs are special products, and manufacturers and sellers cannot only go after economic gain. Ensuring food and drink safety for the public is our unshirkable responsibility."
In a sign of just how seriously the government is taking standards for consumer products, Zheng Xiaoyu (62) Mr Shao's predecessor at the drug and food safety watchdog, was executed last week for corruption.
A government inspectorate has warned that small-scale food producers will be shut down unless they renovate their operations to meet hygiene standards.
Health inspectors have already closed 180 food factories this year after they found formaldehyde, illegal dyes and industrial wax being used to make sweets, pickles, crackers and seafood.
There are also fears of food poisoning at the Beijing Olympics next summer. This week the government vowed to closely monitor the quality of food served. Everything from dairy products to seafood will be monitored to make sure none of the athletes or others involved in the games need worry about quality.
A panel of seven Chinese and eight foreign experts will address food safety issues for the games and there are detailed technical standards to cover the packaging, storing and transporting criteria of about 345 different kinds of food. The growing list of food safety scandals has prompted the People's Liberation Army to step up checks on where its rations come from.