China to clear up, integrate food standards

China will overhaul its current food standards, integrating new specifications and weeding out others in a move largely aimed at avoiding overlap and contradiction, the Ministry of Heath announced.

Before the end of 2015, the ministry will basically complete the work on the mandatory contents of China's current 1,900 national food standards, 1,200 local standards and 3,000 food industrial standards, according to a statement posted on its website Monday.

In the meantime, efforts will be made to revise the standards on food additives, food labels and food contaminants, biotoxin and pesticide residuals.

The ministry will also accelerate the formulation and modification of the national standard of food safety, so as to fill certain important gaps in the existing version, solve the inconsistency of standards and enhance the standards' scientific base, said the statement.