BEIJING - The head of China's quality authority said on Monday that it will enhance quality supervision this year to safeguard people's livelihoods.

Zhi Shuping, director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, told Xinhua that quality control has always been a significant but difficult task for the administration.

"China's quality safety situation is turning better in general, but the job of quality supervision is still arduous," Zhi said.

The senior official explained that the country's quality supervision departments investigated 111,400 cases of quality violations in 2011, and 30,000 of those cases concerned food safety.

"Frequent quality violations seriously hurt consumer confidence and contaminated the country's consumption environment," Zhi said.

He added that the administration will draw on past experiences of quality control and pay close attention to key products, enterprises and regions. It will focus on inspecting dairy products, liquor, meat and food additives, as well as organic products this year.

China has vowed to step up supervision of the quality of its products and projects in development during the 2011-2020 period, according to a blueprint released by the State Council earlier this month.