Take home:
- Guangdong FDA released Rules of Guangdong Food Electronic Traceability Management, which is the first formal food traceability regulation in Guangdong.
- Guangdong plans to implement an external traceability system to cover 90% of infant formula, alcoholic products and cooking oil manufacturers and operators by the end of 2016.
On 7 September, the Guangdong Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a draft of Rules of Guangdong Food Electronic Traceability Management (hereafter called “rules”) which is open for public consultation until 16 September. This is the first official regulation related to a food traceability system in Guangdong and will apply to all food manufacturers and operators within Guangdong Province. The rules clarify the management scope, responsibilities of enterprises and supervision authorities. It is notable that agricultural food producers and internet food operators are also included in the management scope.
Guangdong has been a pioneer in food safety and traceability, its provincial government began developing the electronic food traceability system in early 2015 and initially just supported baby formula products traceability and just included traceability from raw materials to terminal sales channels through the provincial E-traceability system in 2015 (see ChemLinked News 7 Jan. 2015).
On 1 January, 2016, a formal food traceability system with official website and mobile application covering baby formulas, alcoholic products and cooking oil was launched for enterprises and the public (see ChemLinked News 31 Dec. 2015). The system has been operational since 1 May. At the end of this year, the traceability rate of food categories earmarked for special regulatory focus (infant formula, alcohol, cooking oil, etc.) is required to not be less than 90%.
Under the new rules, enterprises subject to special regulatory focus e.g infant formula manufacturers are required to upload operation data referring to raw material purchase, production, processing, packaging, transformation, storage, sales, test and recall to the official electronic traceability system. This means that the transmission of data between the upstream and downstream enterprises will be recorded and monitored by the traceability system. As for SMEs, the authority encourages them to utilize the system to build an internal traceability system.
The traceability data will also provide risk indicators that will allow regional FDAs and authorities to assign special attention to specific goods and inspect enterprises based on the quality and quantity of the data they have submitted. Enterprises that have poor track records will be inspected more frequently.
Reference
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