The Interim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of the Quality and Safety of Food-related Products shall come into force on March 1, 2023.

The General Administration of Market Supervision issued the Interim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of the Quality and Safety of Food-related Products

A few days ago, the General Administration of Market Supervision issued the interim measures for the Supervision and Administration of the quality and Safety of Food-related products (hereinafter referred to as the "measures") to further implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and urge enterprises to implement the main responsibility for food safety. strengthen the supervision and management of the quality and safety of food-related products to ensure public health and life safety.

The measures stipulate the main responsibility of producers and sellers of food-related products and the specific requirements for the control of the whole production process. Producers of food-related products should establish systems such as raw and auxiliary materials control, production key links control, inspection control and transportation and delivery control, and sellers should establish a purchase inspection system for food-related products. The "Measures" also clarified the food-related product quality and safety traceability system, recall management system, and label management system.

The Measures provide for a closed-loop regulatory system covering the whole process of prior licensing, inspection and post-event punishment. The production license of food-related products shall be subject to notification commitment examination and approval and full coverage routine inspection; the market supervision and management department shall establish and improve the list database of food-related product producers in its administrative region and implement risk classification supervision; implement food-related product quality and safety risk monitoring; and clearly record the administrative punishment information such as unqualified supervision and spot check into the national enterprise credit information publicity system according to law.

The Measures establish a strict legal liability system for food-related products and clarify the legal liability of food-related products. If the current laws and regulations have not yet provided for, penalties for violations of raw material prohibitions, violations of management systems, and accident handling should be added.

The Measures shall come into force on March 1, 2023. In the next step, the General Administration of Market Supervision will take the opportunity of promoting the implementation of the "Measures" to urge enterprises to implement their main responsibilities, enhance their risk prevention and control capabilities, and effectively protect the people's "safety on the tip of the tongue".

(Transfer from: https://www.samr.gov.cn/xw/zj/202210/t20221009_350600.html of the General Administration of Market Supervision)

The relevant person in charge of the Quality Supervision Department of the General Administration of Market Supervision answered reporters' questions on the Interim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of the Quality and Safety of Food-related Products

In order to implement the relevant provisions of the the People's Republic of China Food Safety Law, urge enterprises to implement the main responsibility for food safety, and ensure the quality and safety of food-related products, on October 8, 2022, the General Administration of Market Supervision issued the Interim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of the Quality and Safety of Food-related Products (Hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"). The relevant person in charge of the Quality Supervision Department of the General Administration of Market Supervision answered reporters' questions on related issues related to the "Measures.

Reporter: What is the upper-level legal basis of the Measures?

Answer: In order to strengthen the supervision and management of the quality and safety of food-related products and protect public health and life safety, these "Measures" are formulated in accordance with the "the People's Republic of China Food Safety Law", "the People's Republic of China Product Quality Law" and other relevant laws and regulations.

Reporter: What is the scope of adjustment of the Measures?

Answer: These Measures shall apply to the production and sale of food-related products and their supervision and administration within the territory of the People's Republic of China. Where laws, regulations and rules have other provisions on the supervision and management of the quality and safety of food-related products, such provisions shall prevail. The supervision and administration of the use of food-related products in food production and operation shall be carried out in accordance with the relevant provisions.

Reporter: What is the background and significance of the formulation of the Measures?

Answer: General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "we must implement the Food Safety Law, improve the food safety system, and strengthen food safety supervision". The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to "strengthen supervision in key areas such as food and drugs to ensure quality and safety". At present, my country's food-related products have complex materials, many product types and production companies, and the users involve tens of millions of food producers and operators and hundreds of millions of families, showing the characteristics of "many types, many enterprises, and wide application. In recent years, with the deepening of market supervision reform, the current food-related product supervision system has not adapted to the needs of supervision. The new situation requires us to enhance our sense of responsibility and urgency, comprehensively implement the new development concept, promote the quality and safety of food-related products to move forward, persist in preventing and defusing quality and safety risks from the source, and strive to establish and improve systems and norms, and consolidate the legal foundation. to ensure the quality and safety of food-related products.

Reporter: What are the overall requirements for enterprises and regulatory levels?

Answer: Take the "four strictest" as the main line, fully implement the most rigorous standards, the most stringent supervision, the most severe punishment, and the most serious accountability. Strengthen the control of the whole production process of food-related products covering key links such as production, sales, storage, and packaging. At the enterprise level, manufacturers and sellers are required to establish and comply with an effective safety control system to ensure that raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products meet the corresponding food safety requirements. At the regulatory level, standardize daily supervision and inspection, support the implementation of technical specifications for food-related products, increase supervision efforts, and strictly observe the bottom line of food safety.

Reporter: What are the provisions of the Measures in terms of the two responsibilities of compaction?

Answer: clarify the main responsibility of the "first responsible person" of the production and sales and the territorial supervision responsibility of the market supervision personnel. Targeted supplement and improve the system, establish a quality and safety management personnel system for food-related product production enterprises, refer to the national food safety subject responsibility management system, require producers to be equipped with quality and safety directors and quality safety officers, and establish a clear division of labor, clear responsibilities, and authority Efficient and coordinated responsibility system. Further clarify the main responsibility of enterprises, government leadership responsibilities, comprehensive supervision responsibilities and direct supervision responsibilities, and fully guarantee the quality and safety of food-related products.

Reporter: What specific measures for supervision and inspection are proposed in the Measures?

Answer: The "Measures" focus on outstanding issues such as difficulty in regulating production behavior and imperfect supervision systems, and clarify the requirements for full coverage of routine inspections, daily supervision and inspections, special supervision and inspections, and other supervision and inspections. Refine the inspection points, inspection contents and results disposal and other provisions. Effectively identify systemic problems, achieve breakthroughs in key and difficult problems, and strive to break through the blocking points of collaborative supervision, so as to form a good atmosphere of multi-governance.

Reporter: How does the "Measures" promote the construction of a scientific regulatory system and comprehensively enhance regulatory capabilities?

A: strengthening the supervision of product quality and safety and improving the modernization level of market supervision is an important part of improving the socialist market economic system and an important focus of promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. We must deeply grasp the law of the development of the market economy, systematically promote the supervision of the rule of law, credit supervision and intelligent supervision, and provide strong support services for the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. The implementation of the interim measures for the Supervision and Administration of the quality and Safety of Food-related products is to take the deepening reform of the innovation system as the fundamental driving force, and in accordance with the general idea of market supervision of "stressing politics, strengthening supervision, promoting development, and ensuring safety." focus on strengthening the quality and safety supervision and management of food-related products, strive to build a scientific and strict supervision system, and fully consider the existing experience of grass-roots supervision and law enforcement, we should also pay attention to the convergence with laws and regulations such as the food safety law and the product quality law, actively promote the deepening reform of the supervision mode on the track of the rule of law, and comprehensively improve the quality and safety supervision ability of food related products.

Reporter: What are the main provisions of the Measures on the labeling of food-related products?

Answer: The "Measures" stipulate the producer's name, address, contact information and other marked content, and require clarity, truthfulness, and accuracy, and must not deceive or mislead consumers. It helps consumers to choose according to the situation of producers, and problems can facilitate consumers to contact and facilitate regulators to implement effective supervision. For example, the shelf life can reflect the safety degree of food-related products; material and product standard codes are all-round safety requirements reflecting safety characteristics; precautions and warning information help consumers master product characteristics and truly protect consumer safety. Other matters indicated by laws and regulations or food safety standards are mandatory requirements and must be indicated. By emphasizing the labeling requirements of food-related products, it can effectively protect consumers' right to know, guide consumers to use food-related products scientifically, and avoid quality and safety risks caused by misuse.

Reporter: what are the main provisions of the "measures" on the supervision and inspection system of the whole production process?

Answer: The "Measures" supplemented and improved quality and safety control measures in a targeted manner, and established a control system for the entire production process of food-related products covering key links such as production, storage, and packaging. Producers are required to establish management systems and control measures such as raw and auxiliary materials management, production key point control, factory inspection control, etc., to form corresponding records. Producers are required to realize the quality and safety traceability of food-related products, ensure that all links from the purchase of raw materials and additives to product sales can be effectively controlled, and timely investigate the hidden safety risks in the production process. In the process of supervision and inspection, the market supervision and management department shall deal with the problems found in all aspects of the whole production process according to the law, and urge enterprises to strictly implement rectification and reform, so as to ensure the production safety of food related products.

(Transfer from: https://www.samr.gov.cn/xw/zj/202210/t20221009_350601.html of the General Administration of Market Supervision)