US Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer told reporters on Wednesday that he was "very confident" of the quality of Chinese products, despite food safety scandals involving pet food, toothpaste and dairy products.

"I'm very confident that the food available to customers here in China is high quality and safe," he told a press conference in Beijing.

Schafer, who is to attend the fifth China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) scheduled for Thursday and Friday, also said the two sides should continue to cooperate on food safety.

"Globalization has resulted in more inter-dependent food systems, so we must all work together to protect consumers."

He said it was "encouraging" that China was increasingly using systematic approaches, such as the draft food safety law, instead of end-product testing to ensure food safety.

He added that the two sides would continue to work together to make sure that food safety would not create a barrier to trade, and also establish inspection and preventive systems to avoid similar food safety problems in the future.

There would be no discussion of the chemical melamine found in dairy products during this round of SED talks, according to Schafer.

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2008)