As China’s imported goods increase in popularity on the back of low confidence shown by consumers in local products after years of food scandals, including the melamine milk scandal in 2008, China’s food quality watchdogs are planning to bolster import regulations.

Lin Wei, director of the Imported Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the bureau will increase surveillance and reinforce its risk assessment protocols. The changes will be included in an amended food safety law expected later this year, though no more details have been given.

In 2015, Lin’s inspectors have so far found nearly 1,000 cases from 79 countries of substandard drinks, dairy products and other imported products worth €11.5 million.

A number of these discoveries involved the illegal use of additives and microorganisms contamination.

Launching a national food safety week in China, Wang Yang, a vice premier said food safety crime was still rampant.

He went on to say ‘the newly revised food safety law will be the starting point of our actions, we should ensure safety of our people with the most rigorous standards, the most stringent regulations, the heaviest penalties for offenders and the most serious accountability system’.

The new law will go into effect in October. Earlier this year, food regulators outlined the amendment to the 2009 Food Safety Law, which is expected to feature significantly heavier penalties for offenders.