The new regulation on food safety (Food Safety Law) came into force in Shanghai in March 2017.
Lately, China has been increasingly showing the will to dissociate itself from the label of being a backward country. The country’s latest effort concerns food safety, the regulation of which seems to place food related scandals into the past. The city of Shanghai has been once again the representative for changes, as its regulation would seem to be pivotal for a subsequent action at a national level.
The competent authority is the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration (“Shanghai FDA”) which, as in the US model, is the authority that deals with both the food and the pharmacological industry. According to the city’s administrative authorities, rather than an actual change of regulation, a stricter control will be applied and it will have a problem-solving approach in order to reinforce the responsibility of all those involved. In fact, more attention will be required with respect to food processing, identifying the critical aspects and preventing any contamination. The technical term of reference is Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).
In order to work in the food sector in China, in addition to the well-known business license, the more specific food license (license to trade food) has been required for some time now. Such food license will then have to be differentiated according to whether the type of activity is identified either as production, delivery or catering.
However, through the aforementioned regulation, all businesses which, even if indirectly, will be involved in the food sector, will meet lower levels of tolerance and will have to submit the relevant food license depending on the types of activity they are performing.
In complying with the diligence of the sector, operators will have to check that their suppliers have the required licenses and that they do not carry out any activity beyond the permissions they have. Re-sellers will also be laible if they fail to demonstrate that they have carried out the necessary checks on their supplier. Products purchased from a supplier must also indicate on the label the name of the supplier and the identification data as the traceability of the product becomes mandatory.
It will not be possible to send expired food back to the sender, it will have to be destroyed or subjected to specific treatment to make it harmless. Evidence of this process must be preserved for a period of two years in case it is requested by the competent authority.
These provisions also apply to foods that the same producer might have to withdraw from the market. Once the food is called back, it will not be possible to use it as raw materials in other production processes, or to give it away for free.
Food additives will be included in the meaning of food and will therefore have to be used in strict compliance with the Food Safety Law. They will also have to be kept in special departments, labelled “Food Additives” and used according to the specified purpose. A registration system of their use will have to be implemented.
The personnel of the companies operating in this industry will need to be updated on food safety and a food safety officer will have to be appointed among the personnel, whose work will be subject to assessment. Employees who will be in direct contact with food must be subjected to special annual exams and those affected by certain diseases will not be allowed to come into direct contact with food.
Appropriate regulations are also provided for online transactions or for those who treat high-risk food such as baby foods.
Failure to comply with the new legislation will result in the imposition of fines and the possibility of license revocation and ceasing of business. The regulation also explicitly provides a reward to anyone who will report cases of non-compliance with the Food Safety Law to the authorities: the so-called whistleblowers.
Therefore, whoever intends to operate in the food industry in Shanghai will have to comply with standards that are considerably higher than the ones of the past.
(Shanghai Office – Luigi Zunarelli – 0086 21 51501952)
