Public anger over the incident hastened the passing of a food-safety law in 2009 which was intended to tighten standards, improve supervision and impose tougher penalties on violators.

ECONOMIST: Food safety in China

"China revamped its procedures for the reporting and tracing of contagious diseases very significantly since the SARS epidemic, " said Lester Ross, a Beijing-based attorney with U.S. law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale who works on health and food safety issues.

WSJ: China Bird Flu Cases Fuel Fears of Epidemic