Word out of China this week that Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of its Food and Drug Administration was executed for taking bribes and dereliction of duty. We guess that will send a message to the rest of the department.

Zheng was convicted just May 29, in part for taking bribes from pharmaceutical companies – whether Chinese or international isn’t clear.

The execution comes as China is taking a number of steps to show it is serious about dealing with a variety of product safety related issues that have become global concerns in the past few months, and which potentially could threaten the country’s export volumes (See Will Product Safety Issues Create Need for an "Import Czar?").