The Chinese Communist Party has named Xi Jinping as its new general secretary, and as China's next president he has singled out food safety, health and agrotechnology as key issues.

The man who will take leadership of the Asian giant in March rallied for improved public knowledge about food and health, in a bid to put public attention towards food safety and prevent misconduct in the industry, media outlet Xinhua reported.

Xi made the comments during a visit to the China Agricultural University in Beijing as part of National Science Popularization Day.

"Food safety is a significant livelihood issue. While strengthening supervision and punishment, the whole society should be mobilized to focus on the issue in order to create a sound social environment," he was quoted as saying at an exhibit of instant melamine checks for milk products.

Xi also watched children undertake interactive experiments and urged them to develop healthy eating habits. He called on agrotechnology workers to boost China's innovation and competitiveness in the field.

"With a huge population and scarce land and water resources, our country must rely on technology to ensure the supply of agricultural products," Xi was quoted as saying.

Photo: Xinhua, Lan Hongguang

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