Chinese food and environmental officials are gearing up to raise food safety standards ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. They are also under pressure to comply with international food safety standards as part of China's commitment to its World Trade Organization membership.

Waters said last week that it will work with the China Municipal Center for Disease Prevention and Control (China CDC), Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Prevention and Control (BJCDC) and The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences under the new agreements.

The company, which specializes in liquid chromatography (UPLC), mass spectrometry (MS) and laboratory informatics, has previously worked with government agencies in China.

Dr Wu Yongning, director of Chemical Contamination Control at China CDC, said that the collaboration would help the organisation to "develop advanced applications and solutions to problems unique to China's development", while director of Beijing CDC, Liu Ze Jun said that the prior partnership with Waters has already produced "very rewarding results".

Waters also works with a number of the country's leading universities, although the firm declined to reveal whether it has any food manufacturing clients.

China's growing foodstuff export trade is however demanding greater attention to food safety by companies keen to sell to the EU and Japan.

Waters has not revealed any financial details about the new agreements but said that China is an important market for the firm. It has offices in a number of the country's major cities and a distribution centre in Shanghai.

Waters president Art Caputo, who attended the signing ceremony in Beijing, told XFN-Asia that more than a third of its revenue comes from after-market business, such as parts, training and infomatics.

"The China market for us is very attractive," he said.

Waters reported 2005 revenue of US$1.2 billion, with 22 per cent coming from the Asia Pacific region.