A four-month drive aiming to straighten out and standardize China's salt market started this month, sources from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) said here Tuesday.

The market rectification is targeted mainly at small salt fields, companies and individuals engaged in illegitimate production, transportation, purchase and wholesale of edible salt.

Illegal activities such as putting industrial salt on edible sale market and procurement of non-edible salt, iodine-free salt and substandard salt for food processing and catering services will also be cracked down on.

Key regions in the rectification program include small salt fields in eastern coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian, salt production regions in northwest China such as Qinghai and Gansu provinces, and regions which fail to meet the requirements of iodine-contain salt such as Chongqing municipality, Sichuan and Hainan provinces, and Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions.

A special inspection team will be set up by officials from SAIC, the State Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Public Health. The team has planned to map out a solution by August to realize long-term supervision of the country's salt market.

Source: Xinhua