Asia Pacific Food Regulation Dynamics | April 2021

Regulation

China Updates the GB Standard for Maximum Residue Limits of Pesticides

On Apr. 1, 2021, China released the new GB standard for the maximum residue limits of pesticides in food (GB 2763-2021), which specifies the MRLs of 564 pesticides in 376 types of food, amounting to 10,092 items. It will be implemented on Sep. 3, 2021. With more pesticide varieties being covered, the new standard carries out stringent regulation on pesticide residues, for example, the MRL of 87 unregistered pesticides are stipulated in GB 2763-2021 to strengthen the supervision of imported agricultural products. The new standard is released with four testing standards, further optimizing the testing of pesticide residues.

China Updates the Administrative Provisions on Registration of Overseas Manufacturers of Imported Foods

On April 13, 2021, China’s GAC authority issued the new version of the “Administrative Provisions on Registration of Overseas Manufacturers of Imported Foods”, which will come into effect on January 1, 2022. Compared to the old version, the applicable scope is expanded to all food categories. The new version also prolongs the manufacturer registration validity term from “4 years” to “5 years”. Read ChemLinked news for more details.

China Releases New Measures for the Safety Administration of Imported and Exported Foods

The latest version of “Measures for the Safety Administration of Imported and Exported Foods” (hereinafter “the Measures”) was released by China GAC on April 13, 2021, which will take effect on January 1, 2022. It details the labeling requirements of specific food categories and the inspection requirements of food safety management system in overseas countries. According to “the Measures”, risk monitoring becomes the emphasis of imported food supervision. For importers, they’re given more responsibility of imported food safety. Read ChemLinked news for more details.

China Updates Catalogue of Quarantine Pests for Imported Plants

As revealed by the updated “Catalogue of Quarantine Pests for Imported Plants” issued on April 16, 2021, 5 more pests were added to the catalogue based on the risk analysis results, which are Tomato brown rugose fruit virus, Maize dwarf mosaic virus, Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum Liefting et al., Otala lactea (Müller), and Euglandina rosea (Ferussac).

China Blueprints the Five-Year Plan for Promoting the Development of Beef Cattle and Sheep Production

On Apr. 20, 2021, Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs unveiled “The Five-Year Plan for Promoting the Development of Beef Cattle and Sheep Breeding”. By promoting the construction of elite breeding mechanism, developing moderate-scale standardized raising and other measures, China aims to reach the self-sufficiency level of 85% in terms of beef and mutton supply as of 2025, and the output will hit 6.8 million tons and 5 million tons respectively at that time.

 Taiwan Revises the Testing Method of Food Additives

In Apr. 2021, Taiwan FDA amended the testing methods of multiple food additives, including L-cysteine monohydrochloride, maltitol syrup, monosodium L-glutamate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, lycopene (synthetic), xylitol (as D-Xylose in the previous version). Check the details in ChemLinked database.

Taiwan Revises Testing Method of Nitrovin Residue in Foods

On Apr. 14, 2021, Taiwan FDA announced to revise the testing method of nitrovin residue in food, involving livestock, poultry aquatic products, honey, egg and etc..

Taiwan Revises Assessment Method for Anti-Fatigue Healthy Function of Health Food

Taiwan FDA released the amendment to “Assessment Method for Anti-Fatigue Healthy Function of Health Food” on Apr. 15, 2021. Compared to the previous version, the major change lies in the optimization of the testing method and animal testing is removed.

Taiwan Incorporates Nutritional Labelling Requirements for Infant Formula and FSMP into the Revised Regulations on Nutrition Labeling for Prepackaged Food Products

On Apr. 15, 2021, Taiwan FDA announced to abolish “Nutritional Labelling Requirements for Infant and Follow-up Formula and Formula Foods for Special Medical Purposes”. Corresponding items were incorporated into the updated “Regulations on Nutrition Labeling for Prepackaged Food Products” (which was revised at the same day). Check ChemLinked database for more details of the revised version.

Draft

SAMR Consults on Opinions on Standardizing the Use of Food Rapid Detection (Draft)

On April. 16, 2021, SAMR unveiled “Opinions on Standardizing the Use of Food Rapid Detection (Draft)” for public feedback. Any comments should be sent back before May 16. The draft under consultation includes instructions, information disclosure requirements, product evaluation procedure and result validation specification of food rapid detection. It is mainly applicable to edible agricultural products, made-on-site food, etc.

China Consults on Administrative Measures for the Registration of Veterinary Drugs

On Apr. 20, 2021, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs consulted on “Administrative Measures for the Registration of Veterinary Drugs” for the second time. Any comments should be sent back to [email protected] prior to May 20.

Supervision

Updates about Health Function Catalogue Allowed for Health Food Claims Non-nutrient Supplement (2020 Draft) and its supportive documents

The exposure draft of “Health Function Catalogue Allowed for Health Food Claims Non-nutrient Supplement (2020 version”) and its supportive documents were under consultation at the end of 2020. On Apr. 2021, SAMR announced the recent updates that 271 comments were received and 42 of them were adopted by the competent authority.

South Korea Revises Regulation on Voluntary Inspection of Livestock Products

On April 9, 2021, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) released the latest version of “Regulation on Voluntary Inspection of Livestock Products”. The regulation newly specified that meat-packing factories should inspect “Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli” of the packaged ground meat product at least once per month. The provisions about the "food for the elderly" were added to keep aligned with the amendments in Food Code.

South Korea Consults on the Overseas Factory’s HACCP Accreditation Standard

After replacing the registration of "Good Foreign Food Facility" with the “HACCP accreditation mechanism” last year, MFDS released the draft of “HACCP Accreditation Standard” on April 15, 2021, for public opinions. The draft specifies the scope of foreign food facilities subject to HACCP, the accreditation procedure, the inspection and evaluation requirements, etc. Suggestions can be sent to MFDS prior to May 6, 2021.

South Korean Food Policy 2021

The MFDS shared the food policy for 2021 with embassies on April 16, 2021. The competent authority mainly introduced the requirements on foreign food facility inspection, livestock product's sanitary certificate, food purchased on cross-board e-commerce platforms, and other mutual arrangements, etc.

South Korea to Amend Health Functional Food Code

On April 20, 2021, MFDS published two drafts (No. 2021-168 and No. 2021-169) of the “Health Functional Food Code” to solicit public opinions. As the “Dietary Reference Intakes for Korean” was updated in 2020, the relevant standards in “Health Functional Food Code”, such as the recommended daily intakes, are proposed to be modified in draft No. 2021-168. The conversion factor of Vitamin A and some ambiguous phrases are to be changed as well.

Draft No. 2021-169 mainly changed some inconsistent expressions to keep in line with the terms in the superordinate laws. Suggestions for both drafts can be sent to MFDS prior to June 20, 2021.

Japan Proposes to Approve New Countries/Regions for Meat Import

According to the Food Sanitation Law, only food imported from countries, regions or facilities designated by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) can be sold in Japan. On April 1, 2021, the Japan MHLW issued a draft and proposed to add some animal products as well as the country of origin that are allowed to be imported.

Two Products Were Granted Food for Specified Health Uses Approval in Japan

According to the announcement issued by Japan Consumer Affairs Agency on April 14, 2021, two ORBIS Inc. food products passed the CAA review and are allowed to be labeled as food for specified health uses. Up to now, 1073 foods have been licensed as foods for specified health uses.

Japan Proposes to Revise Regulations Related to the Dairy Food Contact Materials

On April 20, 2021, Japan opened the amendment of the “Food and Food Additive Specification Standard” for public consultation and any comments shall be submitted prior to May.19, 2021. The amendment removes the items related to "Prohibition of the use of additives in the synthetic resin materials directly in contact with dairy food", because MHLW believes that even if the prohibition on the use of additives is deleted, food safety can still be guaranteed with the FCM positive list system.

Japanese Aquatic Products Were Boycotted After the Government Approves Releasing Radioactive Wastewater into Ocean

On April 13, 2021, Japan has approved a plan to release more than one million tonnes of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea in two years. The decision was severely criticized by the local fishing community, environmental groups, and Japan's neighbor countries, such as South Korea and China. In South Korea, the citizens held demonstrations to protest Japan's decision, and most Korean distributors also state that they would not sell any seafood imported from Japan. Hearing the news, some Chinese seafood chain store suspended the procurement plan, and said that they would not purchase any seafood from Japan in the future as well.