The US Food and Drug Administration will open three offices in China this week to help check the safety of exports headed to America.

The new FDA offices, which are the first outside of the United States, will increase effectiveness in protecting American and Chinese consumers, according to the office of US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt.

Leavitt and the agency's Food and Drug Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach will open the first office in Beijing tomorrow, followed by one in Guangzhou and another in Shanghai.

"Establishing a permanent FDA presence in China will greatly enhance the speed and effectiveness of our regulatory cooperation and our efforts to protect consumers in both countries," Leavitt's office said in a statement last week.

Leavitt has said 13 employees will be assigned to work in the FDA offices in China but has not said what their role will be. He plans to make opening facilities in India and Central America his next priority.

Leavitt plans to attend two workshops conducted by the US and Chinese governments during his visit to Beijing.

The sessions will address outbreaks of food-related illnesses in the US related to fresh produce as well as melamine contamination in Chinese dairy products which have sickened tens of thousands of babies, the HHS statement said.

The groups will also discuss reforms that could improve the safety of consumer products and will exchange data on the toxicity to humans of melamine, which was added to milk to make it appear protein-rich in quality tests that measure nitrogen.

In a related development, the European Union and China yesterday signed an agreement to cooperate better on consumer safety. Under the agreement, the two sides will swap information on tainted food and other dangerous goods more quickly.