BEIJING - Consumer confidence in liquid milk products in China is gradually being restored, according to a survey released by the China Association for Quality on Saturday.

Covering 24 brands across 22 large- and medium-sized cities, the survey shows that the confidence index stands at 75.6 points out of 100, which is 3 points higher than that of last year.

"The result suggests the gradual recovery of confidence in China's liquid milk market," said Wang Dingmian, chairman of the Guangzhou Dairy Association.

Although he added that the consumer confidence index in China was once as high as 90 percent. 

"Chinese dairy companies and regulatory authorities still need to make great efforts and changes to ensure the quality of milk products," he said.

The survey found that Chinese consumers are mostly concerned about the safety of milk products, including the abuse of food additives.

"Many problems do exist in the dairy industry, including exaggerated advertising, low milk purity, reckless use of additives, and the ultra-high sterilization temperature, which reduces the nutrition in milk," said Wang.

Fu Jie, a health-conscious 26-year-old girl who consumes milk frequently in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, said that she still does not trust some brands of milk. 

"After the continuous outbreak of milk scandals, I searched all the information I could find about milk products on the Internet," Fu said. "Now I only drink milk produced by local dairy companies of the city I live in."

To help supervise the quality of milk products, the China Association for Quality, an organization under the governance of China's top quality watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, has conducted the telephone survey since 2009, using a random sampling of telephone numbers to ensure the accuracy of the results.

China now consumes 35 million tons of milk products a year, and much of the demand is for liquid and fresh milk products. 

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