Acts of food fakery and adulteration have been newly classified as a criminal offense according to the “Major Work Agenda for Food Safety in 2017” issued recently by the General Office of the State Council, a move which will bolster the power of the new Food Safety Law. Food scandals such as the “poisonous milk powder scandal”, “gutter oil scandal”, “fake mutton scandal” and “zombie meat scandal” have severely undermined the confidence of Chinese consumers and exposed them to major health threats.
The new Food Safety Law was implemented in October 2015 and marked a turning point in China’s food safety management system by changing regulatory strategy in food safety standard, supervision, punishment and clarifying accountability of regulatory bodies involved. Under China’s new food safety regime criminal liability is highlighted as the ultimate disincentive safeguarding against future food safety violations. New regulation hopes to curtail criminal activities by placing heightened restrictions on market entry prerequisites, assigning accountability during product/commodity lifecycle through the chain of custody and in each link of the supply chain. This involves origin management of agricultural planting, monitoring of production process, traceability, clarifying responsible person(s), public education and supervision, internal credit and liability evaluation mechanism.
This “work agenda” begins by clarifying offences and punitive measures related to food fakery and adulteration, defining them as a criminal offence, and then defines a series of measures to comprehensively buttress legal, technical, institutional, industrial and social responsibility in preventing, managing, controlling and ultimately weeding out the dodgy behaviors which have plagued Chinese market for over three decade.
Overall there are eleven talking points described in this “work agenda” which will serve as the roadmap for future food safety management in China.
Cement the legal definition and scope of management of food crime
In addition to making food fakery and adulteration a criminal offence, China is expected in 2017 to implement a wide range of management measures addressing issues including individual food production workshops, individual vendors and small-scale catering service, develop a quality safety law for agricultural products, push for effective pesticide management at grassroots level, study and formulate relevant laws and regulations on kitchen waste recycling and accelerate law making on safety management measures for food import and export.
Improve food safety standards
A host of national standards and their corresponding testing methods are expected to be either renewed or introduced in 2017, covering an array of pivotal issues such as heavy metal pollution, organic pollutants, baby formula, FSMPs and health food. Research effort on testing methods for illegal food additive will be reinforced while the pace of establishing residue limits of veterinary drug and pesticide will be accelerated.
Improve Environmental Standards
Development of legislation and standards on soil pollution and soil environment quality are well underway, with management measures for soil environment expected to be released at the end of 2017 along with corresponding soil environment quality standards. Stricter control measures will also be taken to mitigate environmental impact caused by pollution intensive industries such as chemical, pesticide and petroleum processing.
Tightened control of sourcing and agricultural production standards
Good agricultural practice will be at the center of a campaign to tighten control of food toxicity. QR code-based traceability will be an important part of this plan and to this end a new institution will be formed. The institution will provide training and instruction on agricultural technology, the application of pesticide, veterinary drugs, chemical fertilizers, feedstuff and feedstuff additive, and look to ban or phase out the use of any toxic substances such as “lean meat powder”—the substance used in the pork scandal.
Stricter monitoring of production process
A food safety risk institution will be formed to properly distribute manpower for inspection and supervision. This will help to accurately pinpoint companies and persons violating laws and regulations, while encouraging companies to establish food safety traceability system and HACCP.
Food safety risk prevention
A food safety risk monitoring scheme bolstered by new technology such as internet and big data analysis will be put into action. The new system will prioritize intercommunication between regulatory bodies of different functions and in different regions as an integral part of risk mitigation and improve transparency in an increasingly complicated regulatory landscape. Imported food has been earmarked for extra attention, with an emphasis on effectively implementing record-keeping for food importers as part of effort to strengthen food safety supervision by customs.
Facilitate industry transition and continuous improvement
Regulatory, legislative and administrative changes will be more dynamic. New guidance will be released soon in order to facilitate structural adjustment and improvement of the food industry, along with an industry policy on dairy companies which will impose more stringent thresholds for market entry.
Heavier punishments and disincentives for food crime
A wide variety of food crimes such as use of illegal additive, overuse of additive beyond its standardized limits or outside of regulated scope and abuse of veterinary drugs will be subject to much harsher punishments under a regime of intensified inspection and supervision.
A harmonized and credible food safety supervision institution
Institutional reform will continue by harmonizing the separate supervisory systems into one potent, professional and responsive mechanism and thus strengthen grassroots inspection and supervisory power. Current resources will be redistributed to prioritize personnel training and build technical competency
Self-assessment within government
While every food producer will come under closer scrutiny, regulatory bodies will also be externally evaluated. We can expect to see more cooperation with third party testing service providers and continued development of digital infrastructure such as food safety information management platforms accessible by all levels of government bodies nationwide.
Public education
Efforts will be doubled to increase public education related to food safety supervision and inspection as a non-official but effective means to increase universal vigilance towards any food related hazards. A food industry credibility rating management and archive system will also be established. It will work to keep the general public informed of crooked producers, which will allow market forces to play a greater role in the ultimate fate of food retailer/manufacturers with poor food safety track records.
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