China has closed three of the companies at the heart of the recent product safety scandals, in the latest move by Beijing to try to regain confidence on the quality of its consumer goods.

The government said on Friday it had revoked the business licences of a chemicals plant whose products have been linked to a number of deaths in Panama and two companies implicated in the deaths of many cats and dogs in the US. Officials also said they would take steps to close down unregistered food manufacturers and admitted that some fish farms had used banned substances in products that were exported.