Time ：Dec-16, 2020, 11:15
The revised Regulation on the Implementation of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China will take effect on December 1.
Sun Meijun, Deputy Director of the State Administration for Market Regulation, explained the highlights of the revision in detail at a meeting held in Beijing on November 12.
The new version comprising 10 chapters increases the number of its articles from 64 to 86. The amendments are mainly in three chapters, which are food production and management, supervision and administration, and legal responsibility.
The main amendments include refining food safety supervision system and mechanism, strengthening the entity responsibilities of food producers and operators, reinforcing supervision and management of food safety, improving social governance of food safety and increasing penalties for the violation of the food safety law.
The regulation stipulates that local authorities are not allowed to formulate safety standards for health food, formula food for special medical use and formulas for infant and toddler.
Food producers and dealers can implement the published food safety standards in advance. The food safety standards adopted by the enterprises must not be lower than the national standards. If the enterprises' standards are stricter than the national and local standards, the enterprises must report to and file at the provincial-level health administrative department.
To further strengthen the food safety of the schools, the regulation also stipulates that the school canteens should perform the system of controlling materials, cleaning and sterilizing tableware and kitchenware, reserving samples of the dishes and carrying out self-inspection regularly. The contractors should obtain the food business licenses, and hold responsible for the food safety of the school canteens. The schools should supervise the canteens' operators to implement the management system of food safety and should assume their management liability.
The regulation also made supplementary rules on random inspections and other supervisory means. They put in place a system to blacklist serious perpetrators and a joint punishment system for discredited enterprises.
(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)