China will "draw a lesson" from the recent milk scandal and seize the opportunity it has presented to overhaul food safety controls and promote better business ethics, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Tuesday in New York.

Speaking at a luncheon held in his honor at the United Nations headquarters, Wen said the baby formula scandal has done "tremendous damage" to the health of babies and will have significant social repercussions.

"As head of the government, I feel deeply grieved," he said.

"But the most important thing is to draw a lesson from the incident."

Wen outlined the measures the government has already taken to deal with the crisis, and promised an overhaul of quality control systems to ensure Chinese products are up to international standards, and meet the specific requirements of importers.

He also promised to foster better business ethics among the leaders of industry.

"Only by combining such tangible things as technologies, products and management with ideals, ethics and responsibility can we build the DNA of our economy," he said.

Wen said that since he took office, China has faced many challenges, notably the SARS outbreak in 2003, the Sichuan earthquake and snowstorms of this year, and several fatal workplace incidents.

"These have all been highly revelatory to us, and we have learned new things in difficult times," he said.

In an effort to emphasize his own commitment to tackling challenges, Wen quoted lines from The Meditations written by the 2nd century Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

"Those sharp-witted men, either seers or men inflated with pride, where are they? All ephemeral, dead long ago," Wen said.

He said he hopes to leave future generations with two "spiritual legacies" - courage to face disasters and dedication to the people.

"I hope when I pass away, people will say I was true to those two things."

Wen was greeted earlier in New York by a group of about 5,000 overseas Chinese.