A report has been submitted to the Chinese parliament’s annual session, heightening expectations that the country will shortly promote the status of its existing State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) to a more powerful super-agency.
The government is reportedly planning to merge the existing 13 food and pharmaceutical regulators into one all-encompassing body. This move aims to strengthen supervision and enhance consumer confidence in domestic food and drug products.
State Councillor Ma Kai, who delivered the report, said that the current bodies should be amalgamated into a ministry-level authority, with existing staff and departments transferred into the new administration.
Food safety is a prominent concern for Chinese consumers, who have been confronted with a series of reported malpractices since the melamine-contaminated milk scandal of 2008.
The difficulty in regulating the situation stems from a range of factors. Industry analysts point to the strong demand for cheap food in China, a lack of accountability for officials on food regulation breaches and a largely uneducated farm base who are not informed of the safety hazards of the chemicals they are using.
The anticipated move to elevate the authority and scope of its SFDA indicates China’s State Council is fulfilling the commitment it made to tackle the issue in July last year.
