China Out To Boost Food Quality

QINGDAO, China - First comes the 'wind shower.' Wearing overalls and rubber boots, employees at Fusheng Food Co. stand in a narrow room as air jets in the walls blow away any dust on them. They wade through ankle-deep disinfectant and don caps, gloves and surgical masks.

Only then can they enter the chilly, white-tiled room where they pack Alaska salmon for American dinner tables and Russian cod for McDonald's fish sandwiches in Japan. The Japanese-owned company says the fish has been tested for more than 100 banned chemicals.

'I am very confident in saying our food is excellent and the safest in the world,' Zhong Yuhua, general manager, told reporters on a government tour of three food exporters in Shandong province, southeast of Beijing.

Fusheng is part of a Chinese food industry elite of export-oriented companies that, often with foreign help, have improved quality to meet import standards in Japan, the United States and elsewhere.

As the government tries to repair the battered 'Made in China' brand, it is holding them up as models to reassure foreign consumers and to help improve the rest of the industry.

'Foreign companies have done a good job. They can play a leading role. Other companies can learn their advanced management model to promote quality control,' said Huang Kunlun, executive deputy director of the Agriculture Ministry's product testing center.

The reputation of China's $31 billion-a-year food export industry has taken a beating after incidents over toxic chemicals from China in pet food and toothpaste and banned drugs in seafood. Other exporters have been hammered by recalls or warnings about Chinese goods, ranging from faulty tires and baby cribs to toys tainted with lead paint.

U.S. authorities restricted imports of Chinese shrimp, eel and three types of fish in July after tests found unapproved drugs in some shipments. Chinese officials criticized the move as excessive. Last month, U.S. officials said one Chinese supplier was cleared to resume shipments.

At Fusheng, visitors saw masked and gloved employees cut and pack salmon in a tidy workshop. Public areas were scrubbed. In bathrooms, signs remind employees to soak their hands in disinfectant after washing.

Conditions in the rest of the industry vary widely, from companies with the newest equipment and rigorous inspection to competitors that are accused of substituting cheaper materials and skimping on hygiene.

Chinese authorities said product liability cases have involved a small fraction of China's food processors.

Before the recent safety cases, regulators used leading exporters as industry role models, sending managers to study their plants.

'A lot of visitors from companies across the country come to see how we ensure food safety,' said a Longda Food Group Inc. spokesman.

Longda, which has joint ventures with Japanese partners, says 90 percent of its $203 million in exports last year went to Japan. That included vegetable snacks sold by Itochu Corp. and 5,000 tons of Vienna sausages.

The 2,600 food exporters in Shandong Province sell frozen chicken patties, vegetables, fish and dumplings. One-third of their $3.5 billion in exports in the first five months of this year went to Japan. Other markets include the United States and Britain, the government said.

People in the industry say Japan's standards are the world's most stringent, forcing Chinese companies to improve if they want to sell into its huge market.