国内英语新闻:Chinese lawmakers call for enhancing supervision of food safety

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese lawmakers Wednesday called for improving the country's food safety supervision network after a nationwide law enforcement inspection tour.

National lawmakers started the inspection tour last September after the Food Safety Law took effect last June.

Lu Yongxiang, vice chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, told lawmakers that many regions had not completed reform of the food safety supervision mechanism.

Most of the cities and counties had not started the reform yet, Lu said at a three-day bimonthly session of the top legislature that started Wednesday, when presenting a report of the inspection tour.

He called for stronger coordination led by health departments.

The report suggested establishing a national food safety risk assessment center and a food safety standard management system.

Earlier this month, the State Council set up a food safety commission consisting of three vice premiers and a dozen minister-level officials.

The lineup of the commission's members includes Vice Premiers Li Keqiang, Hui Liangyu and Wang Qishan, as well as more than ten heads or vice heads of government departments in charge of health, finance, and agriculture among other portfolios.

The establishment of the commission followed a string of nationwide crackdowns and arrests in the wake of new melamine-tainted milk products being found in Shanghai as well as Liaoning, Shandong and Shaanxi in recent months.