A team of U.S. health officials arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks on food and drug safety after a string of toxic Chinese exports triggered global concern about the country's products, the Associated Press reported. The delegation, led by U.S. Health and Human Services official Rich McKeown, will discuss boosting the flow of information and devising regulations that both sides can be confident in, the department said in a statement issued prior to the group's arrival. They will focus on developing a pair of agreements on the safety of food and feed and safety of drugs and medical devices, hopefully to be completed by December, said the statement, attributed to department Secretary Mike Leavitt. «Our U.S. regulatory agencies are concerned about what they see as an insufficient infrastructure across the board in China to assure the safety, quality and effectiveness of many products exported to the United States,» Leavitt was quoted as saying in the statement. «We believe that with the technology, the scientific expertise, and the commitment each side has, we can work together to correct the outstanding issues,» Leavitt said.
