II. Food Safety Regulatory and Work

To ensure food safety, the Chinese Government adheres to the principle of giving priority to prevention and control at its root by monitoring and controlling the whole process, and has formed a regulatory format in which the local governments take the responsibility, related departments provide guidance and conduct coordination, and different sectors make concerted efforts under the unified national leadership. In response to the circumstances in China, the State Council issued the Decision on Further Strengthening Food Safety Supervision in 2004, according to which one monitoring link is supervised by one department; sectional supervision is adopted as the main means while supervision of different varieties as the supplementary means, making clearer the functions and responsibilities of the food safety supervisory departments. The Decision divided food safety supervision into four links, managed by the departments of agriculture, quality supervision and inspection, industry and commerce, and health, respectively. The production of primary agricultural products is supervised by the agriculture department, the quality and daily hygiene supervision of food processing is overseen by the quality supervision and inspection department, supervision of food circulation and distribution is done by the department of industry and commerce, and that of the catering industry and canteens is taken care of by the health department. The integrated food-safety supervision and coordination, and investigation of and penalties imposed for major incidents in this regard are the responsibility of the department of food and drug administration, while imported and exported agricultural products and other foodstuffs are supervised by the quality supervision and inspection department. In this way, there is a strict, complete regulatory system for food safety supervision in which the departments concerned work in close cooperation, with clearly defined functions and responsibilities.

As it is a prolonged and arduous task to strengthen food safety control, a regulatory system and a lasting efficiency mechanism should be established and improved, and planned with consideration given to both present and future needs to deal with both the symptoms and root causes of food safety problems, especially the latter.

The Chinese Government stresses food safety from the source, improvement of the related basic regulatory systems, and strengthening of food safety supervision.

1. Intensifying Supervision on the Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products

In 2001, China started to implement the Hazard-Free Food Action Plan, focusing on the control of residue of high-toxic pesticides in vegetables and clenbuterol hydrochloride contamination in livestock products, to address the most concerned problems of illegal use of high-toxic pesticide and veterinary medicines, as well as violations of residue standards. The Plan stipulates a complete supervisory process from farmland to market by emphasizing the three key aspects of materials used in farming, production and market access. By carrying out regular monitoring and inspection, the Plan aims at enhancing people's awareness of food quality and safety, ensuring management responsibility, and improving the levels of management and quality and safety of agricultural products by means of standardization. Today, the system for securing the quality and safety of agricultural products is improving, with steadily strengthened supervisory capacity and notable progress in agricultural standardization, leading to the formation of a work mechanism integrating service, management, supervision, penalty and emergency response, to ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products.

2. Establishing and Strictly Implementing Market Access Systems for Food Quality and Safety

The food quality and safety market access systems established by the Chinese Government in 2001 comprise three major ones. One, the production license system, which requires that food-processing enterprises cannot produce and market their products without having the capability to control the source materials' quality, and the adequate conditions to ensure food quality and safety in terms of production equipment, technological flow, product standardization, testing equipment and capability, environment, quality control, storage and transportation, packaging and labeling, and production staff. Enterprises can produce and sell food only after obtaining a food production license. Two, the compulsory inspection system, which means that enterprises have the legal obligation to ensure that their food products pass quality inspection before entering the market. Three, the market access labeling system, i.e., enterprises are required to put on food products the QS label, guaranteeing their quality and safety. Following the principle of phased implementation, by the end of June 2007, some 107,000 food production licenses had been issued to enterprises, which took up over 90 percent of the market of their trades. Meanwhile, supervision has been strengthened over enterprises with food production licenses. By the end of June 2007, 1,276 food production licenses had been withdrawn, cancelled, revoked or nullified for substandard food products. In pace with the growing number of enterprises obtaining the license, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has released lists of such enterprises, making clear that producers without the license and products without the QS label must not enter the market, and warning consumers not to use such products.

3. Intensifying State Supervision by Sample Survey for Food Quality

The Chinese Government carries out a food supervision and inspection system mainly by means of sample survey. Since it was set up in 1985, the system has been strengthened and become more focused to enhance its efficiency. In recent years, daily-consumption food items, such as dairy products, meat products, tea, beverages, grain and edible oil, have become the major targets of sample surveys, especially those produced in workshops and enterprises located in concentrated food-producing areas. Special attention has been given to the hygienic indices of microorganisms, additives and heavy metals in food, and to follow-up inspections of small enterprises with unstable product quality. By increasing sample survey frequency and coverage, the goal of rectifying producers of the same type of food by means of sample survey has been by and large met. The state supervisory sample surveys were carried out on 11,104 batches of foodstuffs produced by 7,880 enterprises from 2006 to June 2007. Meanwhile, greater efforts have been made to rectify and punish enterprises turning out substandard products, and to set things straight by means of the following. First, strictly implementing the public announcement system. Three hundred and fifty-five batches of food with serious quality problems produced by 355 enterprises were found in sample surveys and publicly announced. At the same time, publicity is given to good enterprises, quality products and sound brands. Two hundred and forty products winning the title of "Famous Chinese Brand" and 548 freed-from-inspection products have become popular among consumers. Second, strictly carrying out the rectification system. Enterprises with substandard products are urged to rectify themselves strictly, to be examined again in due course. If problems persist, they will be ordered to stop production for an overhaul. If they still cannot pass the inspection after the overhaul, their business licenses will be revoked. Third, strictly implementing the penalty system. Producers who mix impurities or imitations with their products, or pass fake or defective products off as genuine ones will be ordered to stop production, and their products be confiscated. Legal liabilities will be imposed in serious cases by the judicial organs.

4. Intensifying Rectification of Food Workshops

Regional differences and disparities between urban and rural areas in China make the supervision of food workshops a prolonged and arduous task. At present, food workshops with fewer than 10 employees are the ones that pose the most difficult problem for ensuring food quality and safety. For workshops engaged in traditional, low-risk food processing, the government sticks to the principle of supervision and standardization while giving guidance to such workshops for consumers' convenience. On one hand, the government has tried to upgrade them to the market-access requirements by means of shutdown, stoppage of production, merging or changing line of business; on the other, more stringent supervisory measures have been taken to prevent food safety accidents. In recent years, supervision of workshops and small enterprises has been conducted mainly in four aspects. One, transformation of basic work conditions. Workshops cannot start production without meeting the requirements. Two, restrictions on market scope. Food products processed by such small workshops are not allowed to sell outside the administrative areas of townships or towns in which they are located, not allowed to enter shopping centers and supermarkets. Three, restrictions on food packaging. Before obtaining a market access permit, food products from the workshops are not allowed to have marketing package, so that they cannot enter the market disguised as licensed goods. Four, public undertaking. Food workshops must undertake to the public that they do not use any non-food materials, misuse additives, use recycled food, send their products to shopping centers or supermarkets, or market their products beyond the approved region, and guarantee that their food products meet the basic safety and hygienic standards. After such rectifications, the average acceptance rate in sample surveys of food workshops rose to 70.4 percent in 2006. By the end of June 2007, 5,631 workshops had been closed down, 8,814 had been made to suspend production, and 5,385 had reached the requirements after rectification.

5. Promoting Responsibility System for Regional Food Safety Control

The responsibility system for regional food safety control mainly comprises the following aspects. First, to have specified persons responsible for specified regions and enterprises. The system requires that food safety inspectors of the quality supervision and inspection department go to the townships to supervise the food-processing enterprises; township government coordinators assist the inspectors in supervising food quality and safety; and local reporters bring to attention anything illegal regarding food quality and safety. The number of inspectors, coordinators and local reporters must be fixed, their duties defined, and their working areas and enterprises to be inspected designated. Second, the system requires "three enters" and "four graphs." The former refers to entering villages, households and enterprises to find out their working conditions and set up files of food producers and processors; the latter refers to drawing up a graph showing dynamic changes in enterprises, a graph showing the distribution of food producers and processors, a graph showing the implementation of supervisory duties, and a graph giving food safety precautions, so as to carry out proactive monitoring and control. Third, the system requires local governments to sign documents of responsibility, enterprises to sign letters of undertaking, and quality supervision and inspection departments to submit regular food safety reports.

By the end of June 2007, a total of 16,030 food-safety supervision regions had been set up, 25,346 full-time food-safety inspectors had been put to work, 72,474 local government coordinators had been appointed, and 106,573 food-safety reporters had been recruited in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. In 2006, the quality supervision and inspection departments at various levels made 900,000 inspections of food producing and processing enterprises.

6. Stepping Up Supervision of the Food Circulation Sector

The "Three Green Projects" have been vigorously promoted in China, advocating "green consumption, green markets and green channels." The government encourages modern modes of organization and management for circulation, positively supports the development of chain business and logistics provision; urges marketing enterprises to examine materials