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Government Documents
Government Documents
UPDATED: March 3, 2011 NO. 9 MARCH 3, 2011
Food Safety Law of The People's Republic of China
Adopted at the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on February 28, 2009
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Article 28 Production and trading of the following foods are prohibited:

(1) Food made with non-food raw material or adding non-edible chemicals or other substances possibly hazardous to human health to food, or producing food with recovered food as raw materials;

(2) Food which exceeds food safety standard limits in content or concentration of pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, animal medicine residues, heavy metals, contaminants, and other substances that in food may be hazardous to human health;

(3) Staple and supplementary food exclusively for babies or other specific population, whose nutritional ingredients fail to meet food safety standards;

(4) Food which is rotten or spoilt, or has rancid fat, mildew or insects, or is contaminated or dirty, or contains foreign material or displays any other organoleptic irregularity;

(5) Meat or products of any bird, livestock, beast, or waterborne animal which has been killed by disease, poison or any unidentified cause;

(6) Meat or meat products which have not been quarantined or inspected by animal health supervision authorities or fail to pass such quarantine or inspection;

(7) Food contaminated by packaging materials, containers or transportation means;

(8) Food exceeding the shelf life;

(9) Pre-packaged products without labels;

(10) Food expressly prohibited by the State from production and trading for disease prevention and control purposes;

(11) Other food failing to meet food safety standards or requirements.

Article 29 The State implements a licensing system for food production and trading. Any organization or individual shall obtain the food production license, food distribution license or catering service license before starting the food production, food distribution or catering service.

The food producer having the food production license is not required to obtain the food distribution license when selling foods produced by itself at its production premises; the catering service provider having the catering service license is not required to obtain the food production/distribution license when selling foods produced by itself at its service premises, and the farmer when selling the self produced edible agricultural products is not required to obtain the food distribution license.

Small food workshops and food vendors shall conduct the food related activities according to the food safety requirements corresponding to their production/trading scale and conditions in the Law, and ensure the foods at the sites are clean, nontoxic and harmless. The relevant authorities shall strengthen the supervision and management, with the specific management measures developed by the standing committee of the people's congress of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the control of the Central Government according to the Law.

Article 30 The local people's governments at the county level or above shall encourage the small food workshops to improve the production conditions, and encourage the food vendors to go for operations in the centralized market, the shops and other fixed marketplaces.

Article 31 The administrative departments for health, agriculture, quality supervision, industry and commerce and FDA at the county level or above shall review materials submitted by the applicants according to Article 27.1-4 herein and Administrative License Law of the People's Republic of China, and check the places of production and/or trading of the applicants if necessary. Any applicant that meets the conditions shall be granted a permit and issued a license for food production, distribution or provision of catering services; and any applicant failing to meet the licensing conditions will be rejected and given a written explanation of the reasons.

Article 32 Food producers and traders shall establish the food safety management system, strengthen the training of the employees on food safety knowledge, assign the full-time or part-time food safety management personnel, properly conduct inspection of the foods for operation and conduct the food production and trading according to law.

Article 33 Food producers shall conform to good manufacturing practices. The State encourages food producers to implement the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System to improve food safety management.

For those food enterprises passing the certification of GMP and HACCP, the certification institutions shall conduct the follow-up investigation according to law; and for those failing to conform to the certification requirements, cancel the certificate according to law, timely report to the authorities of quality supervision, administration of industry and commerce and FDA, and notify the public. The certification institution shall not charge any fee for the follow-up investigation.

Article 34 Producers and traders of food shall establish and implement an employee health management system. No person who has a digestive tract infection including dysentery, typhus, viral hepatitis A, and active pulmonary tuberculosis, purulent or weeping skin diseases that adversely affect food safety shall work in direct contact with food for consumption.

The personnel for food production and operations shall have the physical examination every year, and shall be allowed to work after obtaining the health certificate.

Article 35 The edible agricultural product producer shall use the pesticide, fertilizer, growth regulator, animal remedy, animal feed, animal feed additives and others according to the food safety standard and the relevant national requirements. The manufacturer and farmer cooperative organization for edible agricultural products shall establish the edible agricultural product record system.

The agricultural authorities at or above the county level shall strengthen the management and guidance of the use of the agricultural inputs, and establish and improve the safety use system of agricultural inputs.

Article 36 The food producer shall check the license and compliance certificate of the suppliers when purchasing the food raw material, food additives, and food-related products. For the food raw material without the compliance certificate, the test shall be conducted according to the food safety standard. Any food raw material, food additives, and food-related products that do not meet food safety standards shall not be purchased or used.

Food producers shall establish the incoming product verification systems for food raw material, food additives, and food-related products, correctly recording such information as the name, specification, quantity, supplier name and contact information, and purchase date of the food raw material, food additives, and food-related products.

The verification records for food raw material, food additives, and food-related products shall not be altered or forged, and shall be maintained for at least two years.

Article 37 Food producers shall establish and maintain records of outgoing food inspections, check inspection certificates and the safety condition of outgoing food. They shall correctly record such information as the name, specification, quantity, production date, batch number, inspection certificate number, purchaser name and contact information, and sale date.

Outgoing food inspection records shall not be altered or forged, and shall be maintained for at least two years.

Article 38 The producer of food raw material, food additives, and food-related products shall inspect the food raw material, food additives, and food-related products produced according to the food safety standard, and allow release of the products only after the successful inspection.

Article 39 The food trader shall check the license and compliance certificate of the suppliers when purchasing the foods.

Food traders shall establish and maintain incoming food inspection records and correctly record such information as the name, specification, quantity, production date, batch number, shelf life, supplier name and contact information, and purchase date.

Incoming food inspection records shall not be altered or forged, and shall be maintained for at least two years.

For the food traders with the centralized distribution, the headquarters may centrally check the license and compliance certificate of the suppliers, and maintain the incoming product verification record.

Article 40 Food traders shall store food in accordance with food safety assurance requirements, and regularly check food in storage and promptly remove spoilt or outdated food.

Article 41 Food traders shall, when storing food in bulk, indicate such information as the food product name, production date, shelf life, and producer name and storage place contact information.

Food traders shall, when selling bulk food, indicate on the container and external package of the food product name, production date, shelf life, producer name and contact information, and trader name and contact information.

Article 42 Pre-packaged food shall be provided with a label on its package, indicating:

(1) The name, specification, net content and date of production;

(2) Ingredients or formulation;

(3) Producer name, address and contact information;

(4) Shelf life;

(5) Product standard(s) code;

(6) Storage conditions;

(7) Generic name of the food additives used in the national standard;

(8) Food production license number; and

(9) Other information to be indicated in accordance with applicable legislation, regulation and national food safety standards.

The labels on staple and supplementary food exclusively for babies and other specific populations shall indicate the main nutritional ingredients and their contents.

Article 43 The State implements a licensing system for production of food additives. The conditions and application procedures for food additive production licenses shall be subject to the relevant administrative regulations governing licenses for the production of industrial product.

Article 44 Any organization or individual applying to produce new types of foods, food additives and/or food-related products with new food materials shall submit the safety assessment materials of the new products to the health authorities under the State Council. The safety assessment materials shall be reviewed within 60 days of application. If the food safety requirements are met, a license shall be granted and a public announcement made. If the application is rejected, a written response will be given explaining the reasons why the food safety requirements are not met.

Article 45 Any food additive can be listed into the scope permitted for use only after it is technically required and proven to be safe and reliable through the risk assessment. The health authorities under the State Council shall, according to the technical necessity and the results of the food safety assessment results, timely revise the standard for the types, scope of use and dosage of food additives.

Article 46 The food producer shall use the food additives according to the types, scope of use and dosage of food additives in the food safety standard; and shall not use any chemical substances other than the food additives or other substances likely hazardous to human health in producing foods.

Article 47 Food additives must be provided with a label, instructions and packaging. The instructions shall include the information required in Article 42.1.1-6, 8 and 9, and the scope of use, dosage and application of the food additive, with the words "Food Additive" indicated on the label.

Article 48 Labels, instructions and packaging for food and food additives shall not contain false or exaggerated information. They shall not make statements concerning the function of the food in preventing, treating or diagnosing any disease. Food producers shall undertake legal liability for declarations on the label, instructions and packaging.

Labels and instructions for food and food additives shall be made clear and conspicuous.

Any food inconsistent with the label information, instructions shall not be released on the market for sale.

Article 49 Food traders shall sell the pre-packaged foods according to the warning mark, warning notes or precautions on the food label.

Article 50 Food producers shall not add any medicine to food, unless the added substance is conventionally deemed both food and traditional Chinese medicine. The catalogue of the substances conventionally deemed both food and Chinese traditional medicine shall be developed and publicized by the health authorities under the State Council.

Article 51 The State executes the strict control of the food with the claim for specific healthcare functions. The relevant regulatory authorities shall execute the duty and assume the responsibility according to law. The State Council shall develop the specific management measures.

The food with the claim for specific healthcare functions shall not cause acute, sub-acute or chronic hazard to human body, and its label and instructions shall not state the functions for prevention or treatment of diseases, include the true and correction introduction, and indicate clearly the suitable and unsuitable population, effective ingredients or representative ingredients and the content; and the function and ingredients shall be consistent with those in the label and instructions.

Article 52 Central trading market operators, stall leasers, and organizers of trade fairs shall review the license of the admitted food traders for food distribution and catering service; specify the admitted food traders food safety management responsibilities; regularly inspect the operating environment and conditions of the admitted food traders. Upon detection of any activity in breach of this Law, they shall immediately prevent any trading of related food and promptly report the incident to the local administration of industry and commerce and FDA at the county level.

Any food safety incident caused by any food traded in such marketplaces, not fulfilling the obligations in the above paragraph, will result in joint and several liabilities of such operators of central trading markets, stall leasers, and organizers of trade fairs.

Article 53 A food callback system shall be established in China. Where a food producer detects production of any food not meeting the food safety standard, the food producer shall immediately stop production, call back products released to the market, notify relevant producers and traders and consumers, and record all callbacks.

Where finding out the trade of any unsafe food, the food trader shall immediately stop trading, notify relevant producers and traders to cease production and trade of such food, notify consumers to cease consumption of such food, and record all notifications. Any food that the producer deems necessary for callback shall be immediately called back.

Food producers shall remedy, or destroy or render harmless the recalled food, and report the callback and treatment to the quality supervision authorities at or above the county level.

When any food producer/trader fails to call back or stop operation of the food not meeting the food safety standard as required in the Article, the authorities of quality supervision, administration of industry and commerce and FDA at or above the county level may order it to call back or stop operation.

Article 54 Food advertisements shall provide truthful information and shall not include any false or exaggerated information or any statement of functions for treating or diagnosing any disease.

The food safety regulatory authorities or the institutions for food inspection and testing, food industry association or customer association shall not recommend foods to customers through advertising or other forms.

Article 55 The civil society or other organizations or individuals, when recommending foods to customers in the false advertising, causing damage to the lawful rights and interests to customers, shall bear joint and several liabilities with the food producer/trader.

Article 56 Local people's governments at all levels shall take actions to encourage the mass production and chain operation and distribution of foods.

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