May 9, 1983

New food hygiene law to go on trial

A new food hygiene law will come into effect throughout China on a trial basis on July 1, Guo Ziheng, vice-minister of Public Health said.

The law sets standards for food hygiene, additives, containers, packaging, manufacture, management and supervision. Imported foods and those processed by joint Chinese-foreign enterprises will also be required to meet the standards.

Guo said China`s existing regulations were not clearly written with legal sanctions for offenders. The restraint of law was needed to ensure that proper precautions were taken.

County runs farmers` university

China`s first farmers` university-the Liming (dawn) Farmer University in Yanji County in the Yanbian autonomous prefecture of Korean ethnic group, Jilin province, has trained 1,026 farmer graduates since it opened in 1958.

Run by the government of Jilin province and Yanji county, the university offers courses including agronomy, agricultural machinery, medical care, veterinary surgery and hydraulic engineering.

In addition, it also trained nearly 2,000 farmers by running 21 different types of short-term training classes. Over 90 percent of the graduates are of Korean ethnic group, according to the local office of education.