With food poisoning and shoddy fake medicine cases frequently reported to have caused deaths in China, the government is expected to issue a comprehensive plan to track and trace food products.

According to an ongoing national conference on standardizing market economic order, the national guidelines for food and drug safety have been approved by the State Council and will be soon promulgated.

Without giving details, an official with the conference told Xinhua that China will in the next five years enhance the safety assessment of food and drug and the monitoring of drugs and medical equipment, and better handle safety incidents in the field.

Food and drug safety has become a major concern of Chinese people. According to a survey by the State Food and Drug Administration, 65 percent of the respondents worried about the food safety situation in China.

Several drug safety incidents occurred in China last year, the most notorious one causing the deaths of at least six patients and severe side-effects in more than 80 others.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2007)