China Steps Up Crackdown on Food Safety Offences

Beijing (ANTARA) — Under new guidelines, China is stepping up its crackdown on food safety violations and tightening oversight of online food sales and other emerging business models.

The guidelines, issued by the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, call for harsher penalties for serious violations and closer coordination between food safety regulators and criminal law enforcement authorities.

A commission representative said on Monday (12 October) that food safety in China remained generally stable.

However, authorities face new challenges as food safety offences become more complex, criminals make greater use of online platforms, and such practices spread across multiple stages of the supply chain.

The guidelines identify meat products, food served in schools, health food products, vegetables and fruit as top enforcement priorities. They also call for tighter oversight of food production, online sales, catering services and imported products.

To improve coordination between administrative enforcement and criminal proceedings, the guidelines call for clearer procedures for referring suspected criminal cases and better information-sharing between agencies.

China also plans to accelerate revisions to its food safety law to clarify the regulatory responsibilities of companies involved in fresh food e-commerce, food delivery services and livestream sales.

The guidelines also urge authorities to update the list of prohibited additives as investigations uncover new illegal substances.

They further call on authorities to address food safety risks exposed by individual cases and strengthen oversight across the entire supply chain.