BEIJING, Aug 15: China insisted on Wednesday that the vast majority of its exports to the United States were safe, but vowed to improve its safety procedures following the massive toy recall by US giant Mattel.

Officials said they would investigate the new recall, the latest in a series of Chinese product scares, which have left the government insisting that the country's food and goods are not dangerous for the rest of the world.

“For many years, there has been a complete and strict set of supervision systems to safeguard the quality and safety of China's exports,” the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said.

“The vast majority of China's export products to the United States conform to American standards.” Nevertheless, the administration, which oversees the quality of China's exports, said improvements in safety procedures could be made.

“The Chinese government will continue to adopt a series of measures to further improve the quality and safety of its products,” it said in a statement e-mailed to AFP in response to requests about the Mattel recall.

“Supervision and quarantine authorities across China will step up their efforts on spot checks. We will not tolerate the rare cases of illegal production and exports, and we are determined to crack down on them.” The administration said it was looking into the Mattel recall, announced on Tuesday, and that it was working with US authorities to resolve any problems.

Mattel, the world's biggest toy company, said it was recalling 18 million Chinese-made products worldwide mainly over fears they contained toxic lead paint or magnets that could prove dangerous for children.

The legendary Barbie doll, Batman action figures and Polly Pocket play sets were among toys taken off shops’ shelves.

The recall was the latest in a long line of Chinese export safety scares in recent months that have led to increasing anger and concern in the United States and elsewhere.

Mattel subsidiary Fisher-Price this month recalled nearly one million Chinese-made toys, including Sesame Street characters that were decorated with lead-based paint.

Another firm had to pull Thomas the Tank Engine train wooden toys off US shelves for similar reasons.

Unsafe tyres, animal-killer pet food, toxic toothpaste and food exports laced with dangerously high levels of antibiotics are just some of the other items to have tarnished the “Made in China” label of late.

But with China the world's biggest toy exporter, and children's safety having a particularly emotional attachment, the Mattel recall has this week triggered a particularly strong uproar in the United States.

A top US senator called on Tuesday for the inspection of all Chinese toys imported into the United States.

“We can't wait any longer for China to crack down on its lax safety standards,” said Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat in the US Senate.

“This needs to stop now before more children and more families are put at risk,” he said.

“With the majority of the toys, Chinese manufacturers follow the design of the importers. So when problems occur, the brand name companies and importers have a large share of the responsibility as well,” Chinese official said.

The administration emphasised it wanted to work more closely with the United States to address concerns.

Meanwhile, in Beijing toy retailer Ma Haibo is unfazed by the recent scandals over dangerous Chinese products. In fact, he does not even know of the recall of 18 million toys in the United States that made global headlines. ”I have not heard much about these reports, but our business is still very good,” said the 28-year-old at his stall in Beijing's biggest toy market.

“China's quality controls these days are very good. Foreign countries have different standards from us but I think they may have ulterior motives sometimes when they criticise us.”

The news has gone unreported in China's state-run media so far, following a familiar pattern of government-ordered silence surrounding other high-profile international recalls of Chinese exports in recent months.

Most toy vendors at the indoor Hongqiao market said they had not heard of the slew of safety scandals that had hit China recently, as they insisted the items they were selling were safe and met national standards.

“I don't rule out there are substandard toys in China. After all, the toy market is so big,” said Yang Long, another vendor at the market.

“But quality has really improved in the past two years -- the commerce and industry bureau carries out spot checks nearly every week.

“Besides, our customers are a lot more discerning these days because each family can only have one child and they don't mind paying more for safer products.” Yang, like other vendors, was unaware of a report by China's quality-control watchdog in May that said more than 20 per cent of toys made for the domestic market were substandard or potentially dangerous.

The report, published in the English-language China Daily newspaper but almost totally ignored in the mainstream Chinese press, said at least 10,000 children were hurt by dangerous toys each year.

The General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine then announced last month it would introduce new rules to improve toy safety.

It said it would test each new product for safety risks before manufacture, while random factory inspections and sample testing would be introduced.

Meanwhile, Chinese parents say they can do little but trust the authorities and exercise care when selecting toys for their young ones.—AFP