In April, wheat gluten products imported from China for use in pet food were found to have been contaminated with banned chemical melamine and were blamed for animal deaths. This uncovered a host of other cases that have left manufacturers who buy ingredients from the country under pressure to demonstrate they are sourcing responsibly and regulators scrambling to assure consumers their food is safe.

There have been four sets of formal talks between the US and China, which concluded yesterday with the signing of two agreements: one relating to drugs and medical devices, and the other concerning food and feed.

"The agreements satisfy our firm principle that any country that desires to produce goods for American consumers must do so in accordance with American standards of quality and safety," said Secretary Mike Leavitt, secretary of health and human Services with the US government. "To help accomplish this, the two documents apply a three-pronged strategy of registration, certification and verification."

Under the agreement, Chinese food and ingredient producers will have to register with local authorities, who will in turn be required to share data with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

According to Leavitt, the Chinese government is pledging to adopt quality-assurance methods throughout the supply chain.

"For example, Chinese authorities will develop a comprehensive electronic tracking system to follow products from production to exportation," said Leavitt. "This will help ensure that growers and manufacturers are building quality into their processes and that we can take action if they do not."

The Chinese authorities have committed themselves to notifying their US counterparts of events affecting the food chain, such as the failure of a facility to meet the inspection standards.

US regulators have found themselves with a very weighty task at hand, given the sheer market importance Chinese goods have in the North American market.

"To keep up with the pace of global commerce, we need a fundamental shift, from trying to catch unsafe products as they come in, to building quality and safety into products before they reach our borders," said Leavitt.

It also remains to be seen how effectively Chinese authorities will be able to enforce the new regulations domestically within a short time frame.