The Chinese Embassy in Washington has urged the US to treat China's food and drug exports in a scientific and fair manner, saying exaggeration and complication of the issue is not conducive to the healthy development of bilateral trade.

The embassy issued a statement on Thursday after a series of disputes over the quality of products between the two.

The embassy said it hoped the US would not exaggerate or play up individual food safety cases and create a "China food and drug threat", giving the American public the wrong impression.

"Blowing up, complicating or politicizing the issue is irresponsible," it said.

It added that it is even more unacceptable for some to launch groundless attacks against China using the food and drug safety issue as an excuse.

It said problematic US imports from China such as toxic ingredients mixed into pet food were isolated cases and more than 99 percent of Chinese food that is exported to more than 200 countries and regions met the safety standard.

The statement said China should not be singled out for particular concern over food safety, a common challenge facing every country including the United States.

Noting recent US cases of contaminated spinach, peanut butter and poultry, the statement said China is not on the top of the list of countries whose food exports were refused in the past year.

It said the Chinese government has taken this matter very seriously, acted responsibly and immediately adopted forceful measures.

Agencies contributed to this story

(China Daily 07/21/2007 page2)