China will meet with the US at the end of the month to discuss a block on its seafood exports and the establishment of a cooperation mechanism on food safety, a senior quality control official said yesterday.

The meeting has been scheduled for July 31 to August 4 in Beijing, Li Yuanping, head of the import and export safety bureau of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said.

The US representatives will be Rich McKeown and William Steiger, chief of staff and special assistant to the secretary for international affairs with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Discussions are expected to help ease tensions triggered by the US Food and Drug Administration's announcement last month that it would detain five types of Chinese farm-raised seafood products - catfish, basa, dace, shrimp and eel - after repeated testing turned up contamination with harmful drug residues, Li said.

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The two sides will also have preliminary talks about a memorandum of understanding in a bid to resolve food safety issues more effectively amid rising disputes, he said.

A vice-minister-level meeting has also been scheduled for mid-August to discuss details.

"Hopefully, the memorandum will be signed by the end of the year," Li said.

He was speaking during a trip organized yesterday by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) to a juice-processing plant and two quality test centers for domestic and foreign reporters.

The SCIO said the trip was intended to offer journalists a true picture of how Chinese foods were produced and tested.

Chinese products have been in the international spotlight lately after foreign media reported on allegedly toxic toothpaste, seafood, unsafe toys and even tires.

In response, the government launched a sweeping effort to repair the country's reputation and promised more aggressive safety enforcement.

For example, the AQSIQ said that from September 1, all food exports that had passed required quality tests will carry a "CIQ" (China Inspection and Quarantine) mark so that foreign importers can easily tell qualified products from fakes.

The agency is also striving to clean up small food businesses, preventing their products from being sold in supermarkets.

However, the government has also challenged some warnings, saying most Chinese goods are safe. It also criticized some foreign media for playing up the issue.

Li Changjiang, minister of the AQSIQ, said some media, especially those based in the US, had wantonly reported on so-called unsafe Chinese products.

"They're turning white to black," he said in a live broadcast on China Central Television last night. "China's food exports did not start one year or two years ago. I really can't figure out how all Chinese food become unsafe overnight.

"Like fake products, there is fake news as well," he said.

"We should fight fake news the same as we fight fake products."

(China Daily 07/19/2007 page3)