国内英语新闻:China's top legislator urges food safety supervision reform

BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese top legislator Zhang Dejiang has called for improvements and reforms to the country's food safety supervision system.

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), made the remarks Tuesday while presiding over a meeting of inspectors under the NPC Standing Committee to check the enforcement of the Food Safety Law.

The inspection team sent five groups of inspectors to ten provincial regions from April to May, and 21 provincial regions were entrusted to conduct inspections within their own jurisdictions.

The inspectors carried out inspections covering food production -- including planting and farming, processing and circulation -- catering services and food safety supervision.

Based on the reports from the groups and local legislatures, the NPC Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee drafted a report on the inspection.

After listening to opinions and suggestions from the inspectors and some central government officials, Zhang said China's food safety enforcement still has weaknesses and falls short of public expectations.

Citing difficulties in supervising farming and small food vendors, Zhang said reforms need to be deepened to ensure that the law is implemented properly.

The report will be submitted to an NPC Standing Committee for review next month.

A major revision to the Food Safety Law was adopted in April 2015 and came into effect on Oct. 1.