The Supreme People's Court (SPC) Friday vowed to severely punish crimes related to food safety by unveiling more specific criteria in handing out sentences, after the country saw a significant increase in such cases over the past three years.

Sun Jungong, spokesperson of the SPC, told a press conference on Friday that from 2010 to 2012 courts across the country had concluded trials of 1,533 food safety-related cases, convicting 2,088 people.

According to Sun, the country's food safety situation is still "very grave," given that the number of criminal cases related to food safety has seen a significant rise over the past three years.

The number of cases involving the production and selling of food not up to safety and health standards as well as toxic or harmful food rose by nearly 180 percent and 225 percent year-on-year in 2011 and 2012 respectively, while the number of convicted people climbed by some 160 percent and 257 percent in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

Sun also noted that serious food safety-related criminal cases occur from time to time.

Pei Xianding, a senior official with the SPC, briefed the media on five cases involving fake liquor, pork from diseased pigs, pork adulterated with clenbuterol, fake and shoddy food additives as well as cooking oil recycled from leftovers in restaurant kitchens.

In Yidu, Central China's Hubei Province, fake liquor led to five deaths and six severe injuries in 2009. The principal offender Wang Changbing was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.

In order to harshly punish such crimes through legal means, the SPC and the Supreme People's Procuratorate Friday issued explanations that specify crimes related to food safety and set standards for the punishment for these crimes.

The legal explanations, which go into effect on Saturday, for the first time stated that adding prohibited drugs such as sibutramine and Viagra into health food or other food products should be punished in accordance with the crime for the production and sale of toxic or harmful food.

According to the explanations, reprieves should be handed down in an appropriate manner and in accordance with the Criminal Law. And once a reprieve is given, the court should immediately ban the offender from the production and sale of food as well as other related activities during the probation period.

Zhang Yongjian, director of the research center for the development and regulation of the food and drug industry, affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times Friday that the explanations are expected to further ensure judicial justice.

"In the past, rulings of similar food safety-related cases sometimes turned out differently in different courts, depending on the judges' understanding of the law. Some courts even tended to use administrative punishment instead of judicial penalties in handling such cases," Zhang said, noting the new explanations could unify the standards in handing down sentences.

The expert also indicated that a more specific legal interpretation to the existing law could serve as a deterrent to offenders, who formerly sought loopholes in the legal system to evade punishment.