Shanghai styles itself as City of Safe Food

Shanghai (CNS) -- The city authority of Shanghai is determined to regulate the municipal food industry with a strict admittance code, supervision, punishment and accountability measures, announced Ren Yanzu, head of the city's special office on food safety, on Tuesday.

The city seeking the title of China's safest food provider is mainly suffering from microbial contamination, heavy metal pollution, pesticide residues, chemical pollutants and illegal additives.

A large proportion of municipal supplies of cooked food, such as pot-stewed fowl and meat, as well as box lunch sets, are disqualified in terms of coliform and aerobic bacterial count. Tea is another big safety concern because of too much pesticide residue.

Supermarkets are urged to set up food quality control stations and track entire assembly lines.

Food safety crimes invite severe crack downs, at both the source and terminal points, with the strictest punishments ever devised.