Shake up on the cards for food and drug safety

China will upgrade its existing State Food and Drug Administration to improve safety standards for foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals, according to a report delivered by State Councilor Ma Kai to the annual session of the country's top legislative body on Sunday.

The changes are part of a series of ongoing reforms to cut red tape and reduce administrative intervention in the market.

The new body, the ministry-level General Administration of Food and Drugs, will be responsible for unified supervision of standards for food and drug safety and quality in production, distribution and consumption, said the report, which emphasized that overlapping supervision by different departments and a number of supervisory "blind spots" are the weak links in the current supervisory system.