Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform to Strengthen Food Safety
Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform to Strengthen Food Safety
Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform to Strengthen Food Safety
May 9, 2019
Food safety concerns the health and lives of the masses and the future of the Chinese nation. It is clearly stated in the Report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China ("CPC") that we will initiate a food safety strategy to ensure that people have peace of mind about what they're putting on their plates. This is a major deployment of the CPC Central Committee on food safety from the perspective of the overall cause of the CPC and the state, and a key task for securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and fully developing a modern socialist China. The following opinions are put forward with a view to deepening the reform to strengthen food safety.
I. Profoundly Recognize the Status Quo of Food Safety
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has adhered to the people-centered philosophy of development, and from the strategic perspective of the overall cause of the CPC and the state and realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, incorporated food safety into the "Five-sphere Integrated Plan" and the "Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy" for overall planning and deployment, and taken a series of major initiatives in terms of institutional mechanism, laws and regulations, industrial planning, and oversight and management, etc. All regions and departments have conscientiously implemented the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and achieved the rapid growth of the food industry, the gradual refinement of the safety standard system, the continuous elevation of the inspection and testing capabilities, the basic establishment of the whole-process supervision system, the proper control of major food safety risks, the effective guarantee of the masses' diet safety and the constant improvement of the situation concerning food safety.
However, there are still many difficulties and challenges to face in terms of food safety in China, so the situation remains complicated and grave. Issues concerning microbial and heavy metal pollution, excessive residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs, improper use of additives and production and sale of counterfeit goods occurring from time to time, gradually emerging impact of environmental pollution on food safety; low cost for violation of laws, high cost for protection of rights, inadequately sound legal system, existence of certain manufacturers and operators who seek nothing but profits while having a weak sense of primary responsibility as market entities; more potential risks in emerging forms of business and new resources, intensified issues concerning food safety brought about by international trade; shortage in China's food safety standards compared with the most stringent standards and requirements, weak fundamental practices involving risk monitoring, evaluation and early warning, and inadequate supervisory forces and technical means at the primary level; certain localities' insufficient attention paid to food safety and failure to fulfill relevant responsibility in a solid and effective manner, as well as still prominent contradiction between security and development, all these issues have affected the masses' sense of satisfaction, happiness and security and become an obvious weakness in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and fully developing a modern socialist China.
People's ever-growing needs for a better life have created new and higher requirements for strengthening food safety. Advancing the modernization of the state's governance system and governance capabilities, promoting high-quality development and carrying out the Healthy China Initiative and the Rural Revitalization Strategy provide an unprecedented historical opportunity to address issues concerning food safety. We must deepen reform and promote innovation, and by virtue of the most stringent standards, the strictest supervision, the severest punishment and the most serious accountability ("4-S Requirements"), further strengthen food safety and ensure the masses' "safety of every bite of food".
II. General Requirements
1. Guiding ideology. We shall take Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guidance, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress and the second and third plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, uphold and strengthen the CPC's overall leadership, adhere to the people-centered philosophy of development, focus on overall promotion of the "Five-sphere Integrated Plan" and the coordinated promotion of the "Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy", stay committed to the underlying principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, follow the new development philosophy and comply with the "4-S Requirements" to establish a modern food safety governance system, elevate the whole-process supervision capability "from farmland to dining table", improve the whole-chain food quality and safety guarantee level, enhance the broad masses' sense of satisfaction, happiness and security, and lay a solid foundation for achieving the Two Centenary Goals and realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.
2. Basic principles
-- Adhere to Safety First. We shall put the masses' food safety in the first place, adhere to maintaining the bottom line for safety, properly handle the relationship between security and development, and promote the development while ensuring the safety of each locality.
-- Adhere to Issue-based Orientation. We shall, while maintaining and promoting public health as the goal, and solving prominent issues of public concern as the starting point, address both symptoms and root causes, and take synthesized measures to continuously enhance the masses' sense of security and satisfaction.
-- Adhere to Emphasis on Prevention. We shall firmly establish risk prevention awareness, strengthen risk monitoring and evaluation and supply chain management, and elevate risk identification and disposal capabilities; adhere to the synergy of two measures, "production" and "management", implement the primary responsibility of manufacturers and operators as market entities in a solid and effective manner, and minimize insecurity risks.
-- Adhere to Legal Supervision. We shall strengthen the concept of the rule of law, refine laws and regulations as well as standard systems, control chaos by imposing severe punishment, intensify efforts in inspection and law enforcement, severely punish illegal and criminal offenses in accordance with the law, and strictly guard each line of defense from farmland to dining table.
-- Adhere to Reform and Innovation. We shall deepen the supervision system and mechanism reform, innovate supervision concepts and modes, eliminate small mistakes and make up for weaknesses to advance the modernization of the state's governance system and governance capabilities in terms of food safety.
-- Adhere to Co-governance and Co-sharing. Manufacturers and operators shall consciously perform their primary responsibilities as market entities, government departments shall strengthen their supervision in accordance with the law, and the public shall actively participate in social oversight, so as to form a working pattern under which all parties fulfill their respective duties, join hands for joint management, and make concerted efforts for co-governance.
3. Overall objective
We aim to, by 2020, preliminarily establish a food safety supervision system based on risk analysis and supply chain management; achieve the spot check quantity of agricultural products and food up to 4 batches/1,000 persons, maintain the stability of the overall pass rate of major agricultural product quality and safety monitoring at over 97%, and that of the pass rate of food spot check at over 98%, basically control regional and systematic major food safety risks, and further raise the public's sense of security and satisfaction with food safety, ensuring an overall food safety level basically commensurate with the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
We aim to, by 2035, basically realize the modernization of the state's governance system and governance capabilities in terms of food safety; propel the level of food safety standards into a leading position in the world, effectively manage the environmental pollution in places of origin, significantly elevate manufacturers' and operators' awareness of responsibility and integrity as well as their food quality and safety management levels, and markedly reduce interest-driven economic offenses concerning food safety; propel China's food safety risk management and control capabilities to reach the international advanced level, ensure the effective operation of the whole-process supervision system from farmland to dining table, substantially take a turn for better food safety situation, and ensure that the masses can have access to healthy food and have peace of mind about what they're putting on their plates.
III. Establish the Most Stringent Standards
4. Accelerate the development and revision of standards. We shall, based on actual national conditions, linking with the international level, speed up efforts in developing and revising general food safety standards on pesticide residues, veterinary drug residues, heavy metals, food contaminants, pathogenic microorganisms, etc. and by 2020, work out indexes of maximum residue limits ("MRLs") for pesticides and veterinary drugs up to 10,000 items, which are basically geared to the standards of the International Codex Alimentarius (the "ICA"); speed up efforts in developing and revising basic food safety standards, product standards, and supporting inspection method standards which are urgent for industry development and supervision; refine the development of standards for food additives and food-related products, etc.; and promptly revise and refine food labeling standards, etc.
5. Innovate the working mechanism of standards. We shall learn from and transform international food safety standards, simplify and optimize the development and revision process of national food safety standards to expedite the development and revision progress; refine the mechanism for the establishment of temporary limit values of hazardous substances in food; establish a corporate standard open commitment system, refine the supporting management system, encourage enterprises to develop and implement the corporate standards that are stricter than national or local standards; and support various social forces to participate in the development and revision of national food safety standards, actively participate in the development of the ICA standards as well as the evaluation, analysis, management and decision-making concerning international emerging hazardous factors.
6.
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May 9, 2019
Food safety concerns the health and lives of the masses and the future of the Chinese nation. It is clearly stated in the Report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China ("CPC") that we will initiate a food safety strategy to ensure that people have peace of mind about what they're putting on their plates. This is a major deployment of the CPC Central Committee on food safety from the perspective of the overall cause of the CPC and the state, and a key task for securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and fully developing a modern socialist China. The following opinions are put forward with a view to deepening the reform to strengthen food safety.
I. Profoundly Recognize the Status Quo of Food Safety
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has adhered to the people-centered philosophy of development, and from the strategic perspective of the overall cause of the CPC and the state and realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, incorporated food safety into the "Five-sphere Integrated Plan" and the "Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy" for overall planning and deployment, and taken a series of major initiatives in terms of institutional mechanism, laws and regulations, industrial planning, and oversight and management, etc. All regions and departments have conscientiously implemented the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and achieved the rapid growth of the food industry, the gradual refinement of the safety standard system, the continuous elevation of the inspection and testing capabilities, the basic establishment of the whole-process supervision system, the proper control of major food safety risks, the effective guarantee of the masses' diet safety and the constant improvement of the situation concerning food safety.
However, there are still many difficulties and challenges to face in terms of food safety in China, so the situation remains complicated and grave. Issues concerning microbial and heavy metal pollution, excessive residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs, improper use of additives and production and sale of counterfeit goods occurring from time to time, gradually emerging impact of environmental pollution on food safety; low cost for violation of laws, high cost for protection of rights, inadequately sound legal system, existence of certain manufacturers and operators who seek nothing but profits while having a weak sense of primary responsibility as market entities; more potential risks in emerging forms of business and new resources, intensified issues concerning food safety brought about by international trade; shortage in China's food safety standards compared with the most stringent standards and requirements, weak fundamental practices involving risk monitoring, evaluation and early warning, and inadequate supervisory forces and technical means at the primary level; certain localities' insufficient attention paid to food safety and failure to fulfill relevant responsibility in a solid and effective manner, as well as still prominent contradiction between security and development, all these issues have affected the masses' sense of satisfaction, happiness and security and become an obvious weakness in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and fully developing a modern socialist China.
People's ever-growing needs for a better life have created new and higher requirements for strengthening food safety. Advancing the modernization of the state's governance system and governance capabilities, promoting high-quality development and carrying out the Healthy China Initiative and the Rural Revitalization Strategy provide an unprecedented historical opportunity to address issues concerning food safety. We must deepen reform and promote innovation, and by virtue of the most stringent standards, the strictest supervision, the severest punishment and the most serious accountability ("4-S Requirements"), further strengthen food safety and ensure the masses' "safety of every bite of food".
II. General Requirements
1. Guiding ideology. We shall take Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guidance, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress and the second and third plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, uphold and strengthen the CPC's overall leadership, adhere to the people-centered philosophy of development, focus on overall promotion of the "Five-sphere Integrated Plan" and the coordinated promotion of the "Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy", stay committed to the underlying principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, follow the new development philosophy and comply with the "4-S Requirements" to establish a modern food safety governance system, elevate the whole-process supervision capability "from farmland to dining table", improve the whole-chain food quality and safety guarantee level, enhance the broad masses' sense of satisfaction, happiness and security, and lay a solid foundation for achieving the Two Centenary Goals and realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.
2. Basic principles
-- Adhere to Safety First. We shall put the masses' food safety in the first place, adhere to maintaining the bottom line for safety, properly handle the relationship between security and development, and promote the development while ensuring the safety of each locality.
-- Adhere to Issue-based Orientation. We shall, while maintaining and promoting public health as the goal, and solving prominent issues of public concern as the starting point, address both symptoms and root causes, and take synthesized measures to continuously enhance the masses' sense of security and satisfaction.
-- Adhere to Emphasis on Prevention. We shall firmly establish risk prevention awareness, strengthen risk monitoring and evaluation and supply chain management, and elevate risk identification and disposal capabilities; adhere to the synergy of two measures, "production" and "management", implement the primary responsibility of manufacturers and operators as market entities in a solid and effective manner, and minimize insecurity risks.
-- Adhere to Legal Supervision. We shall strengthen the concept of the rule of law, refine laws and regulations as well as standard systems, control chaos by imposing severe punishment, intensify efforts in inspection and law enforcement, severely punish illegal and criminal offenses in accordance with the law, and strictly guard each line of defense from farmland to dining table.
-- Adhere to Reform and Innovation. We shall deepen the supervision system and mechanism reform, innovate supervision concepts and modes, eliminate small mistakes and make up for weaknesses to advance the modernization of the state's governance system and governance capabilities in terms of food safety.
-- Adhere to Co-governance and Co-sharing. Manufacturers and operators shall consciously perform their primary responsibilities as market entities, government departments shall strengthen their supervision in accordance with the law, and the public shall actively participate in social oversight, so as to form a working pattern under which all parties fulfill their respective duties, join hands for joint management, and make concerted efforts for co-governance.
3. Overall objective
We aim to, by 2020, preliminarily establish a food safety supervision system based on risk analysis and supply chain management; achieve the spot check quantity of agricultural products and food up to 4 batches/1,000 persons, maintain the stability of the overall pass rate of major agricultural product quality and safety monitoring at over 97%, and that of the pass rate of food spot check at over 98%, basically control regional and systematic major food safety risks, and further raise the public's sense of security and satisfaction with food safety, ensuring an overall food safety level basically commensurate with the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
We aim to, by 2035, basically realize the modernization of the state's governance system and governance capabilities in terms of food safety; propel the level of food safety standards into a leading position in the world, effectively manage the environmental pollution in places of origin, significantly elevate manufacturers' and operators' awareness of responsibility and integrity as well as their food quality and safety management levels, and markedly reduce interest-driven economic offenses concerning food safety; propel China's food safety risk management and control capabilities to reach the international advanced level, ensure the effective operation of the whole-process supervision system from farmland to dining table, substantially take a turn for better food safety situation, and ensure that the masses can have access to healthy food and have peace of mind about what they're putting on their plates.
III. Establish the Most Stringent Standards
4. Accelerate the development and revision of standards. We shall, based on actual national conditions, linking with the international level, speed up efforts in developing and revising general food safety standards on pesticide residues, veterinary drug residues, heavy metals, food contaminants, pathogenic microorganisms, etc. and by 2020, work out indexes of maximum residue limits ("MRLs") for pesticides and veterinary drugs up to 10,000 items, which are basically geared to the standards of the International Codex Alimentarius (the "ICA"); speed up efforts in developing and revising basic food safety standards, product standards, and supporting inspection method standards which are urgent for industry development and supervision; refine the development of standards for food additives and food-related products, etc.; and promptly revise and refine food labeling standards, etc.
5. Innovate the working mechanism of standards. We shall learn from and transform international food safety standards, simplify and optimize the development and revision process of national food safety standards to expedite the development and revision progress; refine the mechanism for the establishment of temporary limit values of hazardous substances in food; establish a corporate standard open commitment system, refine the supporting management system, encourage enterprises to develop and implement the corporate standards that are stricter than national or local standards; and support various social forces to participate in the development and revision of national food safety standards, actively participate in the development of the ICA standards as well as the evaluation, analysis, management and decision-making concerning international emerging hazardous factors.
6.
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