Agriculture & Food

On July 6, the General Administration of Customs announced that since the outbreak, a total of 144 food companies that have been infected by the new crown epidemic have suspended their exports to China, which has strengthened the Chinese government's defense of food safety. Experts believe that strengthening the supervision of import and export food safety is an important support for improving the overall level of national food safety.

On the same day, the General Administration of Customs held a series of activities on the theme day of the 2021 "National Food Safety Awareness Week" in Hangzhou. As part of the National Food Safety Promotion Week in 2021, this event has launched a series of promotional activities with the theme of "Advocating Frugality and Belief, Protecting Chinese Food in the Sun" through a combination of online and offline methods. Customs units organize various publicity, display, and Q&A activities at port sites and communities, shopping malls, schools and other public places, and distribute brochures and leaflets to enhance the safety of import and export food, food safety at ports, and crackdowns from all walks of life. Customs work such as food smuggling and knowledge of food safety knowledge.

Food safety issues have always been a hot issue that the country attaches great importance to. In recent years, China has been committed to building a strong line of defense to maintain food safety. As China's consumption level is getting higher and higher, and the consumption volume is increasing, this determines that China needs to import more products to meet domestic consumption needs under the condition of limited domestic production capacity growth. Especially since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, how to ensure the safety of imported food, and what aspects need to be protected, the relevant personnel and experts of the General Administration of Customs have interpreted.

Fan Yongxiang, deputy director of the National Food Safety Assessment Center and chairman of the International Codex Alimentarius Additives Committee, said on the 6th that the current Chinese food safety standard system covers the entire chain from farmland to the table, covering more than 1,300 national food standards. The Chinese video standard framework system is compatible with international standards. Develop Codex standards and be consistent with other developed countries.

According to the introduction, the food safety standard system has three characteristics: First, it covers all the hazards involved in food consumption in my country that may affect human health, including natural pollution factors such as radioactive pollution, as well as the food industry or the production and processing of edible agricultural products. Use the standard requirements of human factors such as food supplements and nutrition fortifiers. Second, the coverage is wide, covering all food categories for business consumption, such as daily consumer products such as grains, oils, meat, and eggs, as well as food products with Chinese characteristics, such as soy products, which fully guarantees the safety of food consumption. Third, China’s food safety standard system follows the nationally accepted risk analysis principles. It has developed a standard system based on national food safety risk monitoring data, the level of dietary consumption of Chinese residents, and the actual situation of food production and operation, which is more scientific, reasonable and feasible. .

Fan Yongxiang believes that the establishment of China's food safety standard system on the one hand ensures the safety of domestic food production and operation, and on the other hand, it is also an important basis for food import safety. In order to further improve the standard level of Chinese food, China actively participates and invests in the process of formulating international standards, so that more Chinese experience and Chinese wisdom can lead the formulation of international standards. "At present, we are in the forefront of the (world) in many aspects. It is leading the formulation of the International Codex Standard for Food Additives and the International Codex Standard for Pesticide Residues."

In addition to the establishment of China's food safety standard system, the customs, which is on the front line of import and export food safety defense, has played an important role. Since the beginning of this year, the General Administration of Customs has successively issued two important documents, the "Administrative Measures on the Safety of Imported and Exported Food of the People's Republic of China" and the "Regulations on the Registration and Management of Overseas Production Enterprises of Imported Food of the People's Republic of China", which have laid a solid foundation for the customs to supervise imported and exported food.

Secondly, the implementation of relevant laws and regulations at the implementation level is also particularly critical. "Global Times" learned in the interview that imported foods that have crossed the ocean and come to China Customs will check the three links before, during and after the import, to ensure the safety of imported food. Especially since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, the General Administration of Customs has strengthened the control of the source of imported food, implemented emergency preventive measures on companies that were positive for the new crown virus, supervised preventive disinfection at ports, and supported the establishment and improvement of the cold chain food traceability management system. A series of measures to strictly prevent the risk of the epidemic imported through imported cold chain food.

According to the relevant responsible comrades of the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Customs, in the first half of this year, customs across the country carried out a total of 1.0987 million samples of imported cold-chain food, animal and plant products for new crown pneumonia virus; cumulatively supervised preventive disinfection imports at ports. There were 27,114,400 pieces of cold chain food. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, so far, 296 food exporting companies from 60 countries (regions) have been spot-checked through remote video methods, and 144 food exporting companies that have experienced a cluster of employees infected by the new crown epidemic have suspended their exports to China.

In addition, from January to June this year, the national customs detected a total of 1,070 batches of food and cosmetics that were not qualified for safety and health items and were not allowed to enter in the port supervision process, all of which have been returned or destroyed.

Regarding the safety of imported and exported food, Ma Yong, vice president and secretary-general of the China Food Industry Association, believes that on the one hand, the rich and diverse imported food meets the growing consumer demand of consumers and the people’s yearning for a better life; on the other hand, On the one hand, many imported bulk products are important raw materials for food processing, supporting the development of China’s food industry. At the same time, the export food produced in my country is spread all over the country and has become an important part of the global food supply chain. Therefore, strengthening the supervision of import and export food safety is an important support for improving the overall level of national food safety.