Imported foods have safety issues that can order the consignee to recall

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) announced on July 6th the "Administrative Measures on the Import and Export of Food Safety" (draft for soliciting opinions), which clearly states that if there is a problem with food safety, the consignee must also take up the responsibility for recall.

According to the "Measures", when serious food safety problems or epidemics are found in imported or exported food, and food safety incidents occur at home and abroad, or the epidemic may affect the safety of import and export food, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine shall take measures for early warning or control of risks. , Including conditional restrictions on imports and exports, tightening inspections, ordering recalls, etc.; prohibiting import and export, on-site destruction or return processing; and, initiate import and export of food safety emergency response plans.

If there is a problem with the safety of imported food, the consignee of the imported food should also voluntarily recall it and report it to the local inspection and quarantine agency.

In the past, "imported food" was generally detected overseas, and the relevant authorities actively sealed up and processed it after being informed.

At the same time, the "Measures" stipulates that the AQSIQ shall implement a registration system for overseas food production enterprises that export food to China, and exporters or agents that export food to China shall file with the AQSIQ.

For foods that do not yet have national food safety standards, if they are imported for the first time, the consignee should also submit to the inspection and quarantine agency a clear permit issued by the health administrative department of the State Council and carry out inspections as required by the health department.