Digesting China’s new endeavours on food safety

Since the milk powder scandal in 2008, China has embarked on a long and complicated process of amending its Food Safety Law, which came into effect in 2009, and was intended to create systematic regulation on food safety. However, food safety scandals have continued to emerge, such as the Husi frozen meat scandal in 2014, and it seems both urgent and necessary for China to improve its food safety law, with new amendments that became effective from 1 October, 2015.

The new amendments emphasize prevention of food safety issues by refining mechanisms for risk monitoring and safety assessment, establishing traceability of the food supply chain, and expanding registration and labelling requirements on food products.

UNIFIED SUPERVISORY BODY

Under the Food Safety Law 2015, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) officially takes over supervision and administration of food safety for the entire supply chain. Before the establishment of a unified supervisory organ, the regulatory mechanism for food safety was divided into three stages – production, distribution and catering service – separately governed by three government departments: the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).

Tess Yang is an associate with AllBright Law Offices in Shanghai