The State Council Food Safety Office, in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Health Commission, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Administration for Market Regulation, recently issued the "Comprehensive Management Plan for the Abuse of Food Additives" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which will be deployed nationwide to carry out comprehensive management actions for the abuse of food additives.
The "Plan" focuses on the issues of excessive use of food additives beyond the scope and limit that concern the people. It requires comprehensive strengthening of source control in the production of edible agricultural products, import inspection of food and food additives, and supervision of the production, sales, and use of food additives in food production, processing, and catering services. It also severely cracks down on illegal acts of chemical products impersonating food additives and carries out comprehensive management of food additive abuse from farmland to dining tables.
The Plan specifies that food safety offices at all levels will take the lead in strengthening inter departmental risk consultation and problem reporting mechanisms, and regularly assess prominent risk issues related to food additives. The agricultural and rural departments will crack down severely on illegal activities such as the use of agricultural inputs prohibited by the state in the production of edible agricultural products; Strengthen the management of related chemical products and industrial raw material production industries in the industrial and information technology departments; The customs department has intensified its crackdown on illegal activities such as failure to truthfully declare imported food additives; The health department is researching and improving the dynamic management system for food additive varieties; The market supervision department strictly supervises the production, sales, and use of food additives, as well as the use of food additives in food production and catering services. Any behavior of using food additives beyond the scope or limit shall be investigated and punished in accordance with the law.
