Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of China’s State Food and Drug Administration was sentenced to death today.

Zheng, who ran the drug administration from its creation in 1998 until he was fired in 2005, saw his power increase substantially in 2002 when the government required that all drugs be approved by the agency. The change resulted in a massive backlog, giving companies a strong incentive to find ways to expedite approvals.

In one instance, an antibiotic approved by Zheng’s agency killed at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market.

Also Tuesday, an official from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said that the recall system will be part of a new regulation crafted by the agency and will be implemented by the end of the year.

“All domestic and foreign food producers and distributors will be obliged to follow the system,” Wu Jianping, director general of the administration’s food production and supervision department, was quoted as saying in the state-run China Daily newspaper.

The recall system would be put in place gradually and will focus on “potentially dangerous and unapproved food products” the report said.

On a side note - the Menu Foods pet food recall: Crawford and Co., an Atlanta Georgia insurance adjustor hired by Menu Foods has been ordered to stop harrassing pet owners.

The calls to Moonjian and other pet owners were the subject of a hearing last week in Camden, N.J., before U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman. Lawyers from six firms representing pet owners who claim their dogs or cats were harmed by Menu’s food asked Hillman to stop the company from contacting their clients directly.

Hillman ordered Menu Foods to have no contact with owners unless their attorneys are involved in the discussion, according to a transcript of the hearing obtained by USA TODAY. Menu hired Crawford and Co. to contact pet owners who had called the company to report animal illnesses or deaths, according to the transcript.

Menu Foods message to US residents - very slight change for Canadians. For a company that is just about back to normal production, that is not  a professional website. It has done the job, now courts do theirs.
Canada intercepted a shipping container of contaminated corn gluten recently, the Dominican Republic recalled toothpaste from China that had  the chemical used for anti-freeze and brake fluid.