Ministry of Health issues "Administrative Measures on National Food Safety Standards"

In order to ensure the implementation of the relevant national food safety standards in the Food Safety Law and regulate the management of food safety standards, the Ministry of Health has drafted and issued the "Administrative Measures on National Food Safety Standards."

The method is divided into seven chapters, including: General, planning, planning and project establishment, drafting, review, approval and release, revision and review, and appendix, a total of 42 articles.

The "Measures" stipulates the contents and procedures for planning and developing (repairing) national plans for food safety, the drafting process requirements for standards, public solicitation comments, standards review procedures, the form of approval and release of standards, and management after implementation.

The Measures reflect the following characteristics from the content:

Firstly, it emphasized the scientific nature of the standard setting process, and required that the results of food safety risk assessment and the results of quality and safety assessment of edible agricultural products be the main basis for the formulation of standards, refer to the Codex Alimentarius standards, and fully consider the level of social and economic development in China.

The second is the principle of openness and transparency in the drafting and review of standards. After the drafting of the requirements standard is completed, opinions from the standard use units, research institutes, industries and enterprises, consumers, experts, and regulatory authorities shall be solicited. The criteria adopted by the Secretariat of the Review Committee in the first instance shall be publicly solicited on the website of the Ministry of Health.

The third is to encourage the community to participate in the work of national food safety standards. Any unit or individual may put forward proposals for standard system (repair), express opinions on the draft standard for public solicitation of opinions, and put forward opinions and suggestions on the problems existing in the implementation of standards.

Fourth, highlight the importance of standard review work. The "Food Safety Law" stipulates that national food safety standards should be reviewed and approved by the National Food Quality Standards Review Committee. In order to ensure the quality of the standard review, according to the "Committee on Review of Food Safety National Standards," the review within the review committee is categorized into three stages: preliminary review by the secretariat, review by the specialized subcommittee, and review by the director's meeting. At the same time, additional health supervision by the Ministry of Health Central audit link. For many years, the center has been responsible for the review of various professional health standards approval materials. It has a wealth of work experience and the addition of this link will help guarantee the standardization of the standard approval materials submitted to the Ministry of Health.

It is reported that in April 2009, on the basis of the “Sanitary Standards Management Regulations” issued by the Ministry of Health, and in accordance with the relevant provisions of the “Food Safety Law,” and in combination with the working characteristics of national food safety standards, the Ministry of Health has drafted the National Food Safety Standard. Management Measures (draft), and solicit opinions from relevant ministries and commissions and provincial health bureaus. In February 2010, after the Ministry of Health issued the “Constitution of Food Safety National Standards Evaluation Committee”, the Ministry of Health revised and improved the “Draft” in accordance with the Articles of Association and the Implementation Regulations of the Food Safety Law promulgated on July 20, 2009. And again consult relevant ministries and commissions and provincial health bureaus. From April 30 to May 25, 2010, the Ministry of Health publicly solicited opinions on the "Draft" from the website of the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council, and received a total of 439 opinions. Based on the feedback collected, the Ministry of Health further revised the draft and eventually formed the "Administrative Measures on National Food Safety Standards."