China said on Wednesday it had arrested more than 1,480 people
in a four-month nationwide crackdown on substandard goods, part of
ongoing efforts to calm international worries over the quality of
the country's products.
The General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection
and Quarantine said the arrests were the result of 1,187 criminal
investigations nationwide into the manufacture and sale of fake or
substandard food, medicine or agricultural products that started in
August.
Thirteen major cases, such as fake drug albumin from human
plasma and shoddy vaccine of blue ear disease, were solved while 64
people were arrested.
During the campaign, the country shut down more than 300 drug
manufacturers, and destroyed or returned 168 batches of illegally
imported or substandard pork, fruit and materials. It also set up
quality files covering 33,000 consumer goods producers and put more
than 10,000 enterprises into the country's quality-monitoring
network.
Li Changjiang, head of the General Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said China must further
improve product quality and consolidate the campaign results by
building and perfecting a longer-term mechanism.
Since March, quality and safety issues of made-in-China products
have been under the international spotlight, ranging from pet foods
to drugs, toothpaste, toys, aquatic products and tires, among
others.
(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2008)