China's agriculture produce safe, reliable: MOA

China's agricultural products are generally safe and reliable, an official with Ministry of Agriculture said on Thursday.

"The government attaches great importance to food safety and people's food consumption has a safety guarantee," said Bi Meijia, a chief MOA economist.

A Reuters report recently claimed that rice imported from Japan is the latest addition on the Chinese list of "everyday foods they bring in from abroad at luxury-good prices."

The report went on to say that the 160 tonnes of Japanese rice imports in 2014, three times more than in 2013, illustrates "Chinese consumers' dwindling confidence in the safety of the country's own agricultural produce."

To base a claim about Chinese consumers' confidence in domestic agricultural products on changes seen in merely one customs datum is "unsound both in terms of fact and logic," Bi said.

With much more strict testing criteria, over 96 percent of major Chinese agricultural products passed quality tests in 2014, a proof of stable and improving quality, he said.

China imported 2.58 million tonnes of rice in 2014, accounting for only 1.2 percent of China's total rice consumption, he said, adding that the amount of Japanese rice imports represented an even smaller fraction.

Bi said that moderate growth of rice imports indicated the diversified need of Chinese consumers in a growingly affluent society.