China revises rules to tighten oversight of imported food sa

BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- China will implement revised regulations on the registration of overseas manufacturers exporting food to the country starting from June 1 this year, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) has announced.

The GAC will determine, under dynamic management, the catalog of imported food products subject to official recommendation for registration, the list of products not eligible for automatic renewal of registration, and the scope of overseas food storage enterprises required to register under the regulations.

These decisions will be made based on analyses of factors such as sources of raw materials, production and processing techniques, historical food safety data, target consumer groups and consumption methods, while also taking international practices into account.

The registration will remain valid for five years and will be automatically renewed for an additional five years upon expiration, unless specified otherwise.

The GAC said at a press conference on Thursday that the revised regulations are aimed at further strengthening oversight of imported food safety and facilitating trade in imported food.

As an important measure to strengthen source supervision and risk management of imported food, the current rules have been in force for more than four years since Jan. 1, 2022.

During the period, more than 96,000 food enterprises from 178 countries and regions have registered in China.

The existing rules have helped bring specialty foods from various countries, including Norwegian salmon and frozen fruits from New Zealand, to Chinese consumers, while also boosting China's total imported food trade from 1.05 trillion yuan (about 152.23 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020 to 1.32 trillion yuan in 2025.

The number of registration applications from overseas food manufacturers has risen rapidly as China continues to expand opening up, which has necessitated further improvements to the registration management system, said Li Jinsong, an official with the GAC.

The new rules fully take into account consistency with the existing registration system, Li said, adding that trade in imported food from overseas enterprises already registered in China will not be affected and will enjoy greater convenience under the revised rules.