¡¡¡¡HANGZHOU, Dec. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Food quality and safety inspection has become a new specialty in Chinese universities, as the country faces the development of the food industry and frequent food problems around the world.

¡¡¡¡In November, Hangzhou Business College in east China's Zhejiang Province, became the first in China to set up a food quality and safety department. The department will begin enrolling students inthe autumn semester of 2003, said Gu Zhenyu, vice president of the food biology and environment engineering college of the institute.

¡¡¡¡To meet the demand to add to the already one million people working in the field, the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2001 decided to allow food quality and safety assurance as a specialized major in colleges and universities.

¡¡¡¡According to Gu, the students of this specialty will learn advanced technologies in physical and chemical testing, microbe testing, toxin inspection and food quality management. On graduation, they will serve work in customs offices, disease control centers and the quality inspection department of enterprises, Gu added.

¡¡¡¡Li Duo, an expert with the World Health Organization, said foodsafety has become a global problem and a key factor affecting the competitive ability of a country's agriculture and food industry.

¡¡¡¡It is urgent for China to create relevant regulations, said Li and to train high level professionals to strengthen the control over food security, said Li. Enditem