Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi on Thursday stressed the importance of ensuring food and drug safety ahead of the Spring Festival, the most important festival occasion for all Chinese.

"After a few years of intensive crackdown on fake drugs and unsafe food, the country's general food and drug safety situation has improved," said Wu, adding that illicit local arrangements and inefficient implementation of laws and regulations nevertheless continue to plague the country.

She said supervision of rural food markets and small restaurants and groceries should be strengthened and the research, production, advertising, examination and approval of drugs should be properly monitored.

The country's food information release system should be further improved to ensure that the public is quickly informed about any food or drug irregularity, Wu said.

Chinese consumers' confidence in the country's drug industry hit a record low last year after several substandard drugs caused several deaths and a series of bribery scandals.

Editor: Yan