To protect its citizens from spoiled food, the Shanghai Food and Medicine Administration (SFMA) has decided to recall all food that does not meet respective standards, starting August 1, 2006.

SFMA says that food products that are proved to have caused illnesses should be recalled within 72 hours and status of the recall should be reported to concerned authorities every 24 hours.

Companies that deal with food businesses are asked to recall bad food voluntarily, or they will be fined or revoked of their business licenses.

SFMA says it will soon also make a unified standard for judging unqualified food.

In recent months, a spate of spolied food stories have rocked supermarkets around China. In May, Carrefour's Shanghai stores faced punishment by the SFMA for selling expired pork products.