System to assess govt food safety supervision Updated:20ll-03-3014:22 ocal officials held to account for effectiveness of quality inspections Beijing-China vows to strengthen its regulation of food quality to eliminate concerns over food safety and to adopt a system to assess the efficiency of the quality supervision and inspections en by local At a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine(AQsiQ) and the China Association for Quality announced that they consider the adoption of such an assessment system to be their primary task in 2011 The announcement said the country will also establish a means this year of reporting the results of quality analyses in a timely manner Speaking at a national conference in January, Zhi Shuping, director of the AQSIQ, became the first to propose the creation of a system to be used to assess the attempts of local governments and officials to ensure food safety and qualit Zhi praised eight provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, including Beijing, for the enthusiasm they displayed in undertaking such work. Zhi said Zhejiang and Shandong provinces and the guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have dopted a similar assessment system Despite such progress, media have reported that fewer than half of the 2, 862 county quality inspections centers in China-about 1, 100 in total- are capable of carrying out food-safety tests That means the new assessment system may not work well in areas that lack much of the equipment needed to conduct quality tests Experts applauded the AQSIQs proposal as a"good"move, although they reminded the dministration to remain faithful to its duties Xiong Wenzhao, a professor in administrative law at Minzu University of China, said: "It will make local governments shoulder the responsibility of ensuring product quality and He said local governments should follow the central governments orders It doesn 't indicate the administration is giving up its administrative authority, "he said " It can offer help instead- financial help for instanceSystem to assess govt food safety supervision By Qiu Bo (China Daily) Updated: 2011-03-30 14:22 Local officials held to account for effectiveness of quality inspections Beijing - China vows to strengthen its regulation of food quality to eliminate concerns over food safety and to adopt a system to assess the efficiency of the quality supervision and inspections undertaken by local governments. At a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and the China Association for Quality announced that they consider the adoption of such an assessment system to be their primary task in 2011. The announcement said the country will also establish a means this year of reporting the results of quality analyses in a timely manner. Speaking at a national conference in January, Zhi Shuping, director of the AQSIQ, became the first to propose the creation of a system to be used to assess the attempts of local governments and officials to ensure food safety and quality. Zhi praised eight provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, including Beijing, for the enthusiasm they displayed in undertaking such work. Zhi said Zhejiang and Shandong provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have adopted a similar assessment system. Despite such progress, media have reported that fewer than half of the 2,862 county quality inspections centers in China - about 1,100 in total - are capable of carrying out food-safety tests. That means the new assessment system may not work well in areas that lack much of the equipment needed to conduct quality tests. Experts applauded the AQSIQ's proposal as a "good" move, although they reminded the administration to remain faithful to its duties. Xiong Wenzhao, a professor in administrative law at Minzu University of China, said: "It will make local governments shoulder the responsibility of ensuring product quality and food safety." He said local governments should follow the central government's orders. "It doesn't indicate the administration is giving up its administrative authority," he said. "It can offer help instead - financial help for instance