Takehome:
The implementation status of food traceability systems in major provinces and municipalities of China required by the Food Safety Law has been studied.
According to China’s new Food Safety Law, food traceability system is required to be established throughout China, which will cover the whole process from farm to fork to guarantee food safety.
The food traceability system in major provinces and municipalities of China has begun to take shape, the implementation status of which is investigated as below:
Shanghai:
More than 17,000 food enterprises have been registered with the unified food safety information traceability platform, covering 7 food categories totaling 15 types of food products:
- Grain and grain products (packaged polished round-grained rice)
- Dairy products (infant formula)
- Livestock and its products (live chicken, pigeon, and packaged frozen chicken)
- Poultry (pork, and packed beef and mutton)
- Vegetables (vigna sinensis, potato, tomato, pepper, and wax gourd)
- Bean products (packaged lactone bean curd)
- Cooking oil (soybean oil)
Beijing:
The traceability system for meat and vegetables involving most of the large-scale wholesale markets, supermarkets, exclusive stores, etc. is to be established in Beijing this year. All the information from the livestock farms and vegetable plants to the retail terminals is expected to be traceable by then, including the place of origin, whether pesticide residue is up to the standard, etc.
Guangdong Province:
The electronic food traceability system began to be operated from May 1, 2016 in Guangdong Province. At the end of this year, the food categories for special regulatory focus (infant formula, cooking oil, wine, etc.) are required to be traceable with the coverage not less than 90%.
Sichuan Province:
At present, the traceability system for live pig and vegetables has already been established in Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan Province).
The food categories of infant formula, dairy products, prepackaged liquor, edible vegetable oil, etc. will also be developed in the meantime and the traceability platform for imported food products including imported milk powder and wine are also planned to be established with manufacturers and importers filed in the near future.
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