Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 19th Title: Resolutely defend the bottom line of food safety - Interpreting opinions on further strengthening the supervision of food safety in the entire chain

Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhao Wenjun

The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council recently issued opinions on further strengthening the supervision of food safety in the entire chain and deploying a number of policy measures.

In response to the problems existing in the supervision and connection between the entire chain of edible agricultural products planting and breeding, and food production, storage, transportation, delivery and distribution, sales, consumption, import, etc., covering all links from farmland to dining table, the opinions put forward eight aspects that need to be improved and perfected coordinated supervision measures and mechanisms, with a total of 21 specific measures.

Strengthen the inspection and quarantine of meat products, establish and implement a system for transporting bulk liquid food, improve the coordinated management mechanism of campus food safety, strengthen the integrated online and offline supervision of online meal ordering... Focusing on food safety issues of concern to the people, the opinions put forward targeted innovative measures.

Sun Juanjuan, a researcher at the Center for Collaborative Innovation of Food Safety Governance at Renmin University of China, said that the opinions directly face the key issues that have been frequently exposed in current food safety governance, emphasizing the main responsibility of producers and operators, the local responsibility of local governments, the prevention and control responsibility of regulatory departments and the supervisory responsibility of industry departments, etc., and grasp the key point of full-chain responsibility.

The food industry is diverse and complex, including the food processing industry that fully realizes modern large-scale production, as well as various catering companies with extremely low concentration and small and scattered levels, as well as the agricultural product production and processing industries that are easily affected by climate, soil, and water resources. It is difficult to solve the problem by relying solely on one regulatory force, nor can it be controlled by the supervision methods of general products such as random inspection and inspection.

Sun Juanjuan said that the opinions clearly state that the licensing department must strictly review and the regulatory department must supervise it. Especially in the face of the division of labor that controls licensing and does not care about inspections, the opinions require the improvement of the connection mechanism based on the division of responsibilities. For the lack of systems, the opinions have been made to fill the gaps.

For example, in terms of the transportation of bulk liquid food, the opinions propose to establish and implement a system for transporting bulk liquid foods, and formulate a catalog of key varieties of bulk liquid foods that implement the transportation standard transportation system. Regarding the safety risks of cross-border e-commerce retail imported food, the opinions require the Ministry of Commerce to work with the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration for Market Regulation to establish a negative list of cross-border e-commerce retail imported food, and include foods in epidemic areas that have been explicitly suspended from imports and foods that have initiated emergency responses due to major quality and safety risks in the negative list and adjust them in real time.

The opinions emphasize the indispensable nature of the ecological environment department in ensuring the safety of edible agricultural products, and require them to be responsible for promoting the traceability and rectification of heavy metal pollution in agricultural land. The education department should also have a sense of main responsibility in campus food safety governance and strengthen the overall management and guidance of school food safety-related work.

When emphasizing the food safety responsibility chain around the entire chain, the opinions put forward specific measures to implement responsibilities through capacity building and responsibilities based on institutional arrangements. Focusing on the weak links in the entire chain, it highlights the capacity building needs of food transportation practitioners and online delivery personnel, and clarifys the empowerment responsibilities in the corresponding regulatory or competent departments. For example, the human resources and social security department should include the mastery of food safety legal knowledge in the national professional skills standards for online delivery personnel.

Sun Juanjuan said that considering the complexity of the food supply chain and the sustainable development of the business model, the key issues, related subjects and corresponding responsibilities pointed out can play a demonstration effect. In terms of responsibility awareness, other related entities in the entire chain should also take charge and attach importance to food safety responsibilities. In terms of capacity building, the opinions mentioned the food safety inspector system, requiring strengthening training and assessment and unified allocation and use, and improving professional inspection capabilities and levels.

Su Jing, an expert from the Food Safety Committee of the State Council, said that opinions do not avoid hot events with strong public opinion responses, such as the proposal to establish and implement a system for transporting bulk liquid foods and improve the coordinated management mechanism for campus food safety, etc., the shadow of food safety incidents can be seen. By adhering to problem-oriented approach, highlighting pragmatic and effective, and continuously deepening reforms to solve regulatory problems, we can see the determination to firmly adhere to the bottom line of food safety.