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Full Text: China's food quality and safety (15) |
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22:08, August 17, 2007 |
2.Construction of Food Quality and Safety Standard System Gradually Strengthened
The Standardization Administration of the People''s Republic of China administers the country''s food standardization work, while relevant departments under the State Council are in charge of specific food standardization work in respective sectors. The departments concerned are responsible for drafting different national standards for food safety, while the Standardization Administration initiates projects, examines them, marks the serial numbers, gives formal approval and promulgates them. Now, a food quality and safety standard system covering all categories, featuring a relatively rational structure and being fairly complete, has taken initial shape in China. Food safety standards cover the place of origin of agricultural products, quality of irrigation water, rules for the rational use of materials put into agriculture, rules and procedures for animal and plant quarantine, good agricultural practices (GAP), standards of maximum amount of pesticides, veterinary drugs, pollutants and spoilage organisms allowed in food, standards for food additives and their use, hygiene standards for food packaging materials, standards for special dietary food, standards for signs or labels on food packages, standards for the management and control of the safe production of food and standards for testing methods concerning food. These standards apply to edible agricultural products and processed food, such as grain, oil, fruit and vegetable, milk and dairy products, meat, poultry, eggs and related products, aquatic products, soft and alcoholic drinks, condiments and infant food; and cover each sector from food production, processing and distribution to final consumption. So far, China has promulgated over 1,800 national standards concerning food safety, and over 2,900 standards for the food industry, among which 634 national standards are compulsory.
To solve such problems as food safety standards overlapping each other and poorly organized, China has sorted out the over 1,800 national standards, over 2,500 industrial standards, over 7,000 local standards and over 140,000 enterprise standards, repealing more than 530 national and industrial standards. Meanwhile, it has speeded up the revision of over 2,460 national and industrial standards, issued over 200 new national standards, and worked out plans to enact over 280 national standards. It also works hard to promote and enforce these standards, and urges food producing enterprises to strictly abide by them.
3.Food Certification and Accreditation System Basically Established
The Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People''s Republic of China is responsible for administering, supervising and coordinating certification and accreditation work throughout the country, putting in order the certification market and regulating certification activities. A pattern of uniform administration, standardized operation and common implementation for the certification and accreditation of food and agricultural products has come into being, basically establishing a certification and accreditation system covering the entire process "from the farming field to dining table." The certification categories include certification of feeds, GAP certification, certification of hazard-free agricultural products, certification of organic products, certification of food quality, certification of the HACCP management system, and certification of green markets. At present, China ranks among the top ten countries in the world in this regard, with 2.03 million hectares producing certificated organic products. The country has been experimenting with GAP certification geared to international standards in 286 export enterprises and agricultural standardization demonstration bases in 18 pilot provinces; 2,675 food producing enterprises have received HACCP certificates; 28,600 primary agricultural products have passed the certification tests for hazard-free agricultural products; and continuous progress is being made in the certification of feeds, alcoholic beverages by quality grade, and green markets. The government continuously strengthens its supervision of certificated products and enterprises, and increases the authoritativeness and effectiveness of certification.
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