China's food safety is improving, but is still imperfect, says Lu Huisheng, deputy director of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).

Lu said China was experiencing a "high risk period" for food safety, when the safety risks that appeared in different phases in developed countries had been intensified.

Lu said food safety awareness among consumers and food producers had improved.

In the first quarter, 92.8 percent of the vegetable samples in 37 cities met standards on pesticide residues; and 98.8 percent of the pork samples passed the check on sulfa drug residues, said Lu. 

Sulfa drug residues indicate traces of synthetic antibacterial drugs that can harm human immune functions and hematopoietic - or formation of blood and blood cell -- systems.

Since 2006, the government had invested 94.5 million yuan (US$12.43 million) in food safety risk research, said an official with the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The government was actively cooperating with other countries to seek solutions to issues of food safety and product quality.

Officials in charge of food safety and product quality from the EU, Japan and the United States were due to visit China later in the year, followed by the third China-US food safety meeting, the second China-US consumer products safety summit, the China-ASEAN Ministerial Consultation on Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2007)