"China exported 2.7 million tons of aquatic products every year, 98 percent of which are up to standards",said Gao Hongbin, vice minister of agriculture, at a press conference on Tuesday in Beijing.

Gao also dismissed a recent New York Times article entitled "In China, Farming Fish in Toxic Waters" as "sensational" and "misleading".
"It is a question of common sense. Do you believe that fish can live in toxic water?" he asked.
                                           
With food quality and safety becoming a major concern for both consumers at home and abroad, Gao said China's farm produce was much safer following a four-month rectification campaign it launched in August last year.

He also cited China's efforts to deflate consumer price increases this year will focus on farm produce. "The Chinese government will strive to bring the price hikes under control by expanding farm production for steady supply".

The prices of the country's major foodstuffs, including grain, pork and cooking oil, surged in late 2007, lifting the nation's consumer price index (CPI) to an 11-year high of 6.9 percent in November, well above the government-set three percent target.

He added the government had introduced a series of policy incentives for farm production and higher allowances for poor city dwellers so that their lives would not be too affected in face of rising prices.