One effect of the new standards expected out later this year will be to eliminate the use of fillings that contain disease-causing bacteria, the China Daily newspaper reported.

Edible fillings composed of a range of ingredients are used extensively in Chinese dumplings, buns, cakes and other products.

"The draft is seen as necessary and timely because fillings have become an important part of the food industry and are big-time business now," the paper quoted Cao Desheng, an official with the China General Chamber of Commerce, as saying.

The chamber is drafting the standards, it said, adding that China currently has no uniform national policies on food fillings.

"An entire batch of food products will be labeled 'not qualified' if even a slightly strange smell, pollutant or microbe is detected in one of its packets," Cao said.

Producers will also be required to spell out all ingredients in their products.

The new standards will not apply to frozen dumplings, however, because of their "complicated" make-up, it said.

China has been stung by proliferating reports recently of Chinese-made goods that posed health risks and has taken a number of steps to tighten oversight of manufacturers amid growing domestic and international pressure.

In one high-profile case, a Beijing television station reported that a manufacturer of a popular pork-filled bun known as "baozi" was using shredded cardboard and an industrial chemical in the ingredients.

The government reacted quickly after the story made international headlines, insisting that the report was a "hoax" and arresting the reporter who carried out the alleged undercover investigation.

'CHINA'S FOOD SAFETY 'BIGGEST CONCERN' FOR JAPANESE'

Another report from Hong Kong adds: The safety of imported Chinese food products is one of the biggest concerns for Japanese people and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future, an official said Tuesday.

Tomohiko Taniguchi, deputy press secretary at the Japanese foreign ministry, said "it is too late" to control the quantity of food imports from China.

Japan is heavily reliant on food imports and counts China as its second largest supplier after the United States.

"It's too late because Japanese food structure has been so much closely intertwined with China" with many products being imported from the Communist state, he said during a visit to Hong Kong for a regional cultural forum.

"That's one of the biggest concerns I can tell you ordinary people in Japan are having these days... and it's going to remain one of the most biggest concerns for the foreseeable future," he added.

Taniguchi said growing concerns about Chinese food quality would be one of the major topics to be discussed at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Sydney in September.

His comments come days after Japanese officials from the health, farm, trade and foreign ministries as well as business leaders held an emergency meeting to assess the safety of imported goods amid growing global concern about Chinese products.

China's safety standards have come under sharp international criticism amid regular reports of fake, shoddy or dangerous goods emanating from the nation's chaotic and corrupt food and drug industry.