In the past ten years of food safety supervision in China, there is a phrase that has appeared frequently: the most stringent standards, the most stringent supervision, the most severe punishment, and the most serious accountability.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the "four strictest" requirements have pointed out the direction for food safety governance.
In 2015, the newly revised Food Safety Law was implemented, establishing a supervision system covering the whole process of production, distribution, service, and sales.
After two institutional reforms in 2013 and 2018, the State Administration for Market Regulation stepped onto the stage of history, ending the multi-segment supervision model and improving the efficiency of food safety supervision.
The National Food Safety Publicity Week has been held for 10 sessions, extending food safety supervision to social co-governance, "creating a good atmosphere where everyone cares and everyone maintains food safety".
"Four strictest" points out the direction
In May 2015, the "four strictest" requirements were put forward for the first time for food and drug safety supervision.
With the strictest standards, the strictest supervision, the most severe punishment, and the most serious accountability, we will speed up the establishment of a scientific and perfect food and drug safety management system, and strictly control every line of defense from farmland to dining table, from laboratory to hospital.
Since then, the "Four Strictests" have been implemented in every aspect of China's food safety governance.
Taking 2015 as an example, in line with the implementation of the newly revised Food Safety Law, the food and drug administration at that time issued regulations such as the Measures for the Administration of Food Business Licensing, the Measures for the Administration of Food Recalls, and the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of the Sales Quality and Safety of Edible Agricultural Products. , issued the "General Principles of Food Business License Review", "Food Business License Database Construction Standards" and other system specifications, and initially formed a new system framework for the food business supervision system.
In the dairy industry spanning the primary, secondary and tertiary industrial chains, the "four strictest" is particularly evident.
Dairy products have formed a complete system of regulations and standards, covering dairy farming, raw milk purchase, dairy product processing, quality control, market supervision, product sales and advertising.
According to Song Kungang, Honorary Chairman of the China National Committee of the International Dairy Federation and President of the China Dairy Industry Association, in the past ten years, nearly 80 national dairy safety standards have been successively promulgated by the national health authorities. It is one of the most demanding and high-tech standards in the world.”
In terms of "the strictest supervision", since 2010, the regulatory authorities have implemented an intensive quality sampling system for dairy products and infant formula milk powder. Sampling.
From 2014 to 2018, all 108 infant milk powder companies were inspected by the regulatory authorities for their production systems.
The "strictest in history" regulatory measures have resulted in the best level of dairy safety.
According to the data of the China Dairy Association, in 2021, the pass rate of sampling inspection of raw milk in my country will be 99.9%, which is the same as the same period of last year;
The overall sampling pass rate of dairy products is 99.87%, and the pass rate of infant formula milk powder sampling is 99.88%, which is the highest pass rate among the five categories of food safety supervision and sampling inspection by the State Administration for Market Regulation.
Revision of "Food Safety Law"
"The Food Safety Law is the top-level and most important law in food safety management." When it comes to the top-level design of food safety supervision, Zhang Yongjian, director of the Research Center for Food and Drug Industry Development and Supervision, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, summed it up.
my country's food safety supervision laws and regulations can be traced back to the "Trial Regulations on Food Hygiene Management" approved by the State Council in 1965.
In 1983, the Food Sanitation Law (for Trial Implementation) was promulgated.
In 2006, the revised "Food Sanitation Law" was included in the annual legislative plan, and was later changed to the "Food Safety Law".
In 2009, the "Food Safety Law" was passed and the "Food Sanitation Law" was abolished. my country's food safety has shifted from external supervision to full supervision.
In October 2013, the "Food Safety Law" ushered in its first "overhaul" after four years of implementation, and the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council opened for comments.
On October 1, 2015, the newly revised "Food Safety Law" was officially implemented, known as the "strictest in history", and established a whole-process supervision system covering food production, circulation, catering services, and sales of edible agricultural products. It is clarified that the product formula of formula food for special medical purposes and infant formula milk powder shall be subject to a registration system, and the supervision of Internet food transactions shall be strengthened. In terms of strengthening the punishment for food safety violations.
Liu Zhaobin, former chief engineer of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and senior researcher at Peking University's Institute of Law and Social Development, is one of the members of the drafting team of the Food Safety Law. He said that the revised Food Safety Law in 2015 was added from 104 to 154. 70% of the articles have been changed to further straighten out the system and institutional framework of China's food safety supervision, especially to further straighten out the supervisory functions, increase the penalties for violating the Food Safety Law, and clearly stipulate that illegal If the amount is more than 10,000 yuan, a fine of 15 to 30 times can be imposed.
"Since the implementation of my country's first Food Safety Law, it has undergone many revisions and improvements in a short period of time, which is rare in my country's legal system construction, which fully shows that the party and the government attach great importance to food safety issues. Zhang Yongjian believes that the "Food Safety Law" requires food safety to implement prevention first, risk management, whole-process control, and social co-governance, and to establish a scientific and strict supervision and management system, which has generally promoted the progress of my country's food safety supervision capacity and level. .
Two institutional reforms to improve the efficiency of food safety supervision
The revision of the Food Safety Law is inseparable from the background of the institutional reform of the State Council.
In March 2013, the State Council initiated institutional reforms, made major adjustments to the food safety supervision system, and established the State Food and Drug Administration, ending the previous segmented supervision model of "Kowloon Water Control" in the production, distribution, and consumption links, and changed to unified management. .
Wang Guisong, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, said in an interview with the Beijing News at the time that the direct motivation for the revision of the Food Safety Law was the institutional adjustment in 2013, and that "the new food supervision mechanism should be determined by legal provisions."
The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to implement a food safety strategy so that people can eat with confidence.
In 2018, my country's food safety governance ushered in a new round of institutional reforms - the establishment of the State Administration for Market Regulation, as an agency directly under the State Council, no longer retains the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the State Food and Drug Administration. The General Administration, "vigorously promote the reform of the comprehensive law enforcement agency mechanism, and strive to solve the problem of multi-level and multi-layered repeated law enforcement."
Hu Yinglian, a professor of the Social and Ecological Civilization Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School (National School of Governance), analyzed in "Food Safety in the Modernization of National Governance: Starting Points, Systems and Tasks" published in March 2020, the institutional reform in 2018 is to optimize coordination and efficiency. Important principles, focusing on scientific division and vertical authority.
After the reform, the registration of high-risk special foods, such as infant formula milk powder, food for special medical purposes, health food, etc., is under the responsibility of the State Administration for Market Regulation, and is responsible for the supervision and inspection system, the investigation and punishment of major illegal cases, and the national sampling inspection plan, etc. Work across regions with risk.
At the same time, it recognizes the resources and information advantages of localized supervision, and the specific licensing, inspection, and punishment work shall be undertaken by the provincial and lower market supervision departments, especially the daily routine of the food "three small" (small workshops, small restaurants, and small vendors). The supervision is entrusted to the townships and sub-districts, and the targeting and deterrence of supervision will be improved by purchasing third-party professional services.
Hu Yinglian believes that for a long time in the past, my country's food safety and hygiene supervision model is the responsibility of quality supervision, industry and commerce, food and drug supervision, health and other departments. Although it is conducive to improving the professionalism of supervision, it is increasingly unsuitable for the integration of the food industry chain trend.
A series of institutional and institutional reforms after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China have solved the drawbacks of the "fragmented" supervision model, especially the comprehensive law enforcement reform of market supervision, adhering to the concept of big market, big supervision and big service, and improving the overall governance efficiency .
Food Special Action Strikes Out to Control Chaos
The two institutional reforms ended the "multi-dragon water control" situation in food safety supervision, and various departments cooperated efficiently in the process of rectifying various types of food chaos, which was particularly evident in several special rectification actions in the market.
On January 9, 2019, 13 departments including the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Health Commission, the State Food and Drug Administration, and the State Internet Information Office jointly launched the "Hundred Days Action" to rectify the chaos in the health care market.
As of April 2019, 2.741 million law enforcement officers have been dispatched across the country, and 465 counterfeit dens have been destroyed.
A total of 21,152 cases were filed nationwide, with a value of 13.002 billion yuan and a fine of 664 million yuan, saving consumers 123 million yuan in economic losses.
Since then, the State Administration for Market Regulation has stepped up its supervision on the issue of solid beverages posing as special foods.
On May 13, 2019, the Beijing News investigated in Beijing and found that Ningbo Teyi Food Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Jindayang Dairy Co., Ltd. sold solid beverages in the form of "formula powder" with certain functional properties, claiming that it can solve infant allergies, etc. question.
In this regard, the State Administration for Market Regulation requires all localities to strengthen supervision on ordinary food production enterprises whose enterprise names contain words such as "biology", "medicine", "technology", "health care" and "high-tech", whose products are likely to mislead consumers and be confused with special foods.
On May 14, 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation once again issued the "Notice on Carrying out Special Rectification of Solid Beverages, Tableted Candies, Substitute Teas and Other Foods" to crack down on illegal additions, false propaganda, illegal sales and other illegal activities.
On December 24, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Announcement on Strengthening the Quality and Safety Supervision of Solid Beverages", requiring solid beverage products to be labeled as warnings that the products cannot replace special foods.
In response to the "five cents food", "Internet celebrity food" and "campus food" that are related to the health of minors, the regulatory authorities have repeatedly attacked.
In April 2018, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Rectification of "Five Mao Foods" on Campuses and Surroundings, requiring the banning of unlicensed "five cents food" unlicensed workshops.
In February 2019, the National Health and Health Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the Ministry of Education jointly issued the "School Food Safety and Nutritional Health Management Regulations" to implement the school food safety principal (principal) responsibility system.
In January 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued a notice to comprehensively control the marketing of pornographic and vulgar foods to minors without a bottom line.
In addition to various special food safety actions, in recent years, food safety governance has been extended to standardizing excessive packaging, combating food waste, curbing sky-high moon cakes, and "food gold" and other sub-levels.
On August 10, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a new national standard for "Restricting Excessive Packaging Requirements for Food and Cosmetics".
On May 26, 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced the No. 1 Amendment to the National Standard "Restriction of Excessive Packaging Requirements for Food and Cosmetics", which specifically sets excessive packaging restrictive clauses for moon cakes and zongzi products.
In June 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Announcement on Curbing "Sky-High" Mooncakes and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Industry", which strictly regulates boxed mooncakes with a unit price of more than 500 yuan.
Food Safety Awareness Week Promotes Food Safety Co-governance
When talking about the improvement of my country's food safety level in the past ten years, many interviewed companies mentioned the efforts made by the government, enterprises, consumers, industry associations and other social parties in food safety co-governance.
Liu Chunxi, Executive President of Yili Group, believes that "my country's remarkable achievements in dairy safety are not only a reflection of the major deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on food safety work, but also the result of the joint efforts of the whole society and all dairy workers."
In order to carry out food safety publicity and education for the whole society, the Office of the State Council Food Safety Committee took the lead in organizing a national large-scale publicity activity in 2011 - National Food Safety Publicity Week.
This has also become the theme propaganda activity with the highest standard and the most extensive coverage in the field of food safety in my country, creating an atmosphere where everyone participates and the society jointly manages food safety, and popularizes food safety laws and knowledge in a targeted manner.
As of 2021, the National Food Safety Awareness Week has been held for 10 sessions.
In the above-mentioned article, Hu Yinglian proposed that the revised "Food Safety Law" regards "social co-governance" as one of the principles of food safety work.
It is impossible and necessary for the regulatory authorities to take over the whole chain of risk research and judgment, information release, daily supervision, administrative punishment, and emergency response. "Therefore, we need a society that is both dynamic and orderly, and we urgently need the rule of law, specialization, and intelligence. It is a truly endogenous, spontaneous force that has been proven in reality.”
year 2013
The "Food Safety Law" ushered in its first "overhaul" four years after its implementation, and the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council opened for comments.
year 2013
The State Council initiated institutional reform and established the State Food and Drug Administration.
2015
The newly revised Food Safety Law was officially implemented.
2018
my country's food safety governance ushered in a new round of institutional reform, and the State Administration for Market Regulation was established.
2019
The State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and other 13 departments jointly launched the "Hundred Days Action" to rectify the chaos in the health care market.
2021
National Food Safety Awareness Week celebrates its 10th anniversary.
A special edition 02-03/Guo Tie, chief reporter of the Beijing News