CCTV News:The safety status of imported food in China in 2017 announced by the General Administration of Customs also shows that in 2017, a total of 49,000 tons of food that did not meet China’s laws, regulations and standards and were not allowed to enter the country were detected. The main unqualified items are the use of food additives beyond the scope or limit, microbial contamination and unqualified quality in some imported foods.
In 2017, a total of 6,631 batches, 49,000 tons and 69.537 million US dollars of food that did not comply with Chinese laws, regulations and standards and were not allowed to enter the country were detected.
In terms of food types, the foods that are not allowed to enter the country cover almost all kinds of imported foods, among which the top 10 categories are beverages, cakes and biscuits, sugar, cereals and products, alcohol, meat, aquatic products and products, dairy products, tea and special foods, accounting for 86.1% of the total batches of foods that are not allowed to enter the country.
Bi Kexin, head of the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Customs, said that quality, certificates, labels, food additives and microorganisms are the main unqualified reasons.
These foods that are not allowed to enter the country come from 94 countries (regions), among which the top 10 sources by batch are the European Union, Japan, Taiwan, China, ASEAN, the United States, South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Russia and Canada, accounting for 88.1% of the total batches of foods that are not allowed to enter the country. Bi Kexin said that the unqualified food was returned or destroyed by the customs authorities in accordance with relevant regulations and did not enter the domestic market. Consumers can also visit official website of the General Administration of Customs for relevant information.
At Qingdao Port, customs officers randomly sample imported frozen meat at any time according to a certain proportion, and conduct on-site inspection. The sampled goods should be checked one by one for container number, seal identification number, temperature record, packaging and identification, and check whether the information such as product name, quantity, specification, production enterprise registration number and production batch number are consistent with the information in the documents attached to the goods.
China makes a sampling inspection plan for imported meat products every year, and generally requires dozens of items to be tested.
By 2017, the General Administration of Customs had completed the confirmation of official certificates such as hygiene certificates, phytosanitary certificates and certificates of origin for 19 kinds of products such as meat, dairy products, aquatic products and cereals in 140 countries (regions). In 2017, China signed 44 import and export food safety cooperation agreements with major trading partners around the world.