China is prudent in developing genetically modified (GM) farm produce but it will keep working in bio-engineering for agriculture, said an agricultural official at a forum on food safety held here on Saturday.

Luo Bin, deputy director of Farm Produce Quality Safety Center under the Ministry of Agriculture, said that China has developed over 100 varieties of GM farm produce, but the ministry has only allowed five categories of them to go on market, which are soybean, corn, oil-seed rape, cotton and tomato.

"The development, production and sales of GM farm produce are very strictly controlled in China, " said Luo at the International Forum on the Safety of Farm Produce held in this capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

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