China Pours Money into Food Safety

BEIJING — China's food and drug regulator said Wednesday it would meet regularly with its U.S. counterpart to crack down on counterfeit pharmaceuticals and boost product safety.

China is also building new safety testing labs, and upgrading food safety inspection offices at 16 ports and basic infrastructure in central and western China as part of a multiyear, $1.1 billion project, said Yan Jiangying, spokeswoman for the State Food and Drug Administration,

The announcement was one of a series made in recent weeks aimed at allaying global fears that China is not doing enough to guarantee the safety of its food and drug exports.

"China and the U.S. cooperating to fight fake drugs will help us clean up our medicine market," Yan said at a regularly scheduled news conference. "This is something the world is concerned about," she said.

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