One of the biggest challenges for quality supervision in the country this year is rebuilding the confidence of domestic and overseas consumers for its products, following the tainted milk scandal, China's top quality supervisor said on Sunday.

The nation still lacks an effective surveillance system for food production and national standards on food safety need to be more consistent, said Wang Yong, minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

Wang, a former Cabinet official, replaced Li Changjiang, who resigned days after the milk scandal was uncovered last September.

"The tainted milk powder incident severely hurt the public's interests, greatly shook social stability and had a grave impact both in China and overseas," Wang said in his speech to nearly 300 supervision officials from across the country gathering in Beijing.

Milk products contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine have so far sickened 296,000 infants nationwide, including six who died from kidney stones formed after the products were taken, official figures showed.

The authorities have made 60 arrests related to the scandal.

The official website of the AQSIQ had received complaints from victims' families as early as June last year, but it was only after the media reported the scandal in September that the administration began a thorough investigation and uncovered tainted products coming from 22 dairy manufacturers nationwide.

The administration has reportedly checked 33 batches of milk powder and 40 batches of liquid milk products in the country since its first investigation on Sep 14, with recent results showing the dairy products are safe.

Sanlu Group, the main dairy involved in the melamine scandal, has also said it will borrow 500 million yuan (US$73 million) from the local government to compensate its business partners. The collapsed dairy giant based in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, is also responsible for paying 900 million yuan to families of victims hit by the scandal in a controversial compensation scheme.

Wang said that his administration will assist other ministries to revamp the risk analysis and recall system for products, as well as eradicate the illegal use of substances like melamine in food production.

"The milk powder incident is a tough lesson that shows the loopholes in the government's surveillance system," Wang said in his address.

He also urged local supervision officials to respond quickly to media reports on product quality and warned them against corruption.

Similarly, the ongoing Hebei annual legislative meeting called on all related sectors to learn from the "grave mistakes" of the Sanlu scandal.

Other than the dairy industry, Wang said his administration will focus on agricultural products, construction materials, toys and furniture.

(China Daily January 12, 2009)