China to Regulate Imported Foods without Comparable Chinese National Food Safety Standards

Takehome:

• China NHFPC announced the detailed procedure for examining and inspecting imported food without a comparable Chinese national food safety standard.

According to Article 92 of the Food Safety Law, imported foods, food additives and food-related products shall comply with China’s national food safety standards. It is also stipulated that as of 1 Oct 2015 Chinese industrial standards and company standards shall no longer be referenced during importation. However, there are still special cases in which the imported food has no comparable Chinese national food safety standard.

On April 27, 2017, China NHFPC announced the detailed procedure for examining and inspecting imported food without a comparable Chinese national food safety standard.

Firstly, an application is required and the corresponding international standards or the standards of relevant country (district) should be submitted by overseas manufacturers and exporters or their entrusted domestic importers to China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA) for approval.

All the application dossiers will be published at www.cfsa.net.cn for public consultation, which will generally last 30 days. Technical review of the application dossier and public feedback will be conducted by experts from competent authorities. After it is approved, a temporary standard will be used for all subsequent imports. If it is considered necessary, a new national food safety standards will also be formulated accordingly.

Reference link

NHFPC No. 14 (2017) Announcement