China's State Food and Drug Administration is to be put under the Ministry of Health as part of a cabinet restructuring to better monitor the country's food and drug safety.

The plan was announced by State Councilor Hua Jianmin to the National People's Congress.

The ministry will be authorized to coordinate food safety management, organize investigations into serious food safety incidents and give due punishment, Hua said.

It will also be responsible for national food safety standards, the pharmaceutical code and a state basic pharmaceutical system.

The SFDA, after the reform, will be responsible for food sanitation permits and the monitoring of food and eatery businesses. The administration shall also monitor drug safety, including the process of research, production, circulation and use.

The Chinese government has come under pressure to overhaul the country's food and drug safety system after a series of controversies caused by shoddy products, tainted food and corruption scandals over recent years, which sometimes led to international disputes in addition to poisoning and even deaths.

Ministry figures showed food poisoning, ranging from vegetables with pesticide residue to fish contaminated with suspected carcinogens and eggs tainted with industrial dyes, claimed 258 lives last year, up 31.6 percent year-on-year.

Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of SFDA, which was set up in 2003, was executed in July last year for taking more than 6.5 million yuan (US$900,000) in bribes to give approval to new drugs.

"The reform plan will further promote the role of the SFDA to oversee the nation's drug safety in the process of production, circulation and use," said Shao Mingli, head of the SFDA, applauding the reform plan.