China handled 390,000 cases of the production and sale of fake or substandard food, worth 1.46 billion yuan (176.5 million US dollars), last year, revealed a national conference on food and drug supervision and management work Wednesday.

The country prosecuted 128,000 such cases and handed 1,585 of them over to judicial authorities. Police investigated 5,640 people involved in these cases and arrested 270, the conference said.

Alarmed by a notorious fake milk powder scandal that enraged much of the country in April, China tightened its food safety regulations and stepped up efforts in cracking down on illegal food manufacturers over the past year.

Severe punishment of the guilty in the fake milk powder scandal, a toxic wine case in south China's Guangdong Province and a case involving sales of grassleaf daily containing sulfur dioxide in coastal Zhejiang Province have left a widely positive influence, the conference said.

Special campaigns checking milk powder and kids' food and fighting fake trademarks, fake indications and fake packages in food markets also took effect last year, it said.

The acceptable quality rate of rice, flour, oil, soy sauce and vinegar has jumped from 59.9 percent to above 95 percent, after the country set up a market entrance permission system to ensure the food's quality and security, according to the statistics from the conference.

The quality of vegetables, fruits, dairies and soy bean-made products has also improved since the crackdowns.

But related officials with the State Food and Drug Administration still showed worries at the conference, saying improper aspects still lie in the current management, standard and check systems for the food security.