BEIJING -?Farm produce quality has improved consistently in China thanks to stringent oversight, official data showed Thursday.

Farm produce quality has improved steadily over the past five years as more than 96 percent of the output passed a quality check. In the first half of this year, the number reached 97.6 percent, said Guang Defu, director of the Bureau of Quality and Safety Supervision for Agro-products of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The ministry has laid out comprehensive safety standards including more than 6,000 quality standards in pesticide and veterinary residue and more than 5,000 other industry standards. Green and organic food standards have been applied in a greater scope, he told a press briefing on farm produce safety.

A national safety monitoring network has been established with 117,000 superintendents on duty, and they have intensified the crackdown on illegal use of ractopamine and other restricted pesticides.

"It is safe to say China's farm produce is safe and reliable," said Guang Defu, adding that problems still exist and supervision remains a daunting task.

He emphasized the importance of establishing a quality traceable system and vowed to deal with heavy metal pollution to improve food safety.