Roadmap of China’s Food Industry Regulatory Reform: National Standards Earmarked for Cleanup

Disambiguation of Chinese food regulations and standards is not a task for the faint of heart. Chinese food regulations present as a complex network of laws, legislation, regulations, standards and guidelines. To muddy the waters further the Chinese system has historically adopted a complex division of labor and delegated regulatory responsibility to numerous ministries and institutions. These seemingly disparate institutions can often appear to function autonomously with each institution vying for dominance and desperately seeking to validate its respective role. The problems are compounded by lack of crosstalk, disagreement and infighting between these institutions along with regional disparities in enforcement not to mention the almost cyclic occurrence of food industry scandals. Despite the government’s harsh stance on offending individuals , it appears that the benefits of cutting regulatory corners are still too seductive a proposition for unscrupulous enterprise in China’s food industry. However in an effort to stem the tide of national and international condemnation the government is in the process of large scale regulatory reform. In an attempt to develop a more transparent vertically orientated food management system the government formed the CFDA and its elevated it to ministerial status. (see ChemLinked news on 12 Mar)