China has moved to update its Food Safety Law for the first time since 2009, with harsher penalties for food businesses in China that don’t comply with the new regulations.
The new laws will come into place from 1 October 2015, with regulatory bodies to hold more power, harsher penalties for violations of the new laws, and updated guidelines for food production and labelling.
A further 50 new articles will be added to the law, with health products to require clear labelling on ingredients, and stricter labelling for imported produce, and genetically modified produce.
The new laws were passed by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on 24 April 2015, are seen as part of a crackdown on corruption enhanced by recent food safety scandals involved foreign rood retailers in China.
US-China collaboration on food safety
The University of California, Davis, (UC Davis) has signed a memorandum of understanding with officials from the Chinese city of Zhuhai to establish a World Food Centre in China.
The centre will focus on research and training in food safety, with a separate agreement signed by the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou to establish a Joint Research Centre with UC Davies to develop food safety programmes.
“China has placed a very high priority on improving the safety of its food and restoring confidence in consumers here and around the world,” Roger Beachy, executive director of the UC Davis World Food Center said in a statement. “We will measure success by the reduced incidence of unsafe foods in China in coming years.”
