1. Authorities

General Foods
China

This section provides an overview of the Authorities involved in setting regulations and managing compliance with the food product in scope.

According to the Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China [1] and Measures of the People's Republic of China for the Administration of Import and Export Food Safety [2], the following authorities are related to food:

State Administration for Market Regulation (hereinafter referred to as SAMR)

State Administration for Market Regulation (hereinafter referred to as SAMR) is responsible for product supervision and safety monitoring, product regulations and standards management, certification and accreditation, advertisement supervision and management, and trademark management in China market. For food, the SAMR is responsible for food supervision, food regulations and standards management, organic food accreditation, food advertisement supervision and management, and registration management of special food, including health food, infant formula, and food for special medical purposes used.

There is a sub-authority by SAMR related to food: 

• The State Administration for Market Regulation's inspection agency (hereinafter referred to as the inspection agency) is responsible for the product inspection and on-site inspection of food.

There are two sub-authorities by SAMR related to special food ONLY:

• The administrative acceptance agency of the SAMR (hereinafter referred to as the acceptance agency) is responsible for accepting special food registration/notification applications and conducting the dossier format compliance review.
• The Center for Food Evaluation (hereinafter referred to as CFE) of the SAMR is responsible for organizing Chinese medicine variety review and management, special food technical review, managing review experts, and undertaking relevant special food notification work in accordance with the law.

General Administration of Customs of P. R. China (hereinafter referred to as GACC)

General Administration of Customs of P. R. China (hereinafter referred to as GACC) is responsible for imported product supervision and monitoring, imported food risk monitoring, and risk communication. The Import & Export Food Safety Bureau which is an authority by the GACC is responsible for overseas manufacture registration and on-site inspection (before import), imported food and food raw materials supervision and management (positive and negative monograph released and management), imported food safety supervision and management (annual national food safety supervision and sampling inspection plan and special import food safety supervision and sampling inspection plan). 

At the same time, the GACC is also responsible for the intellectual property rights management of imported brands and their products.

National Health Committee (referred to as NHC)

The National Health Committee (referred to as NHC) is responsible for national health supervision and management. At the same time, the NHC will manage the food risk monitoring and risk communication for monitoring the foodborne illness and the whole food process. 

There are two departments of authority by NHC related to food: 

1. Food Safety Standards and Food Monitoring & Evaluation department which is responsible for the establishment and update of food and food ingredients safety standards, and the novel food ingredients management.
2. The National Centre of Food Safety Risk Assessment (referred to as CFSA) which is responsible for food safety risk monitoring and evaluation, non-standard product import regulations establishment and management, and novel Food Ingredients evaluation and approval.

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (referred to as MOARA)

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (referred to as MOARA) is responsible for the edible agricultural and animal products/ingredients supervision and management, genetically modified organism administration, pesticide, and veterinary drug and pesticide residue standards development and monitoring. Also, the MOARA participates in the development of regulations and standards related to agriculture, animals, genetically modified organisms, pesticide and veterinary drugs, organic agriculture/animal products, or by-products.

1.1 References

1. Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China

https://www.samr.gov.cn/zw/zfxxgk/fdzdgknr/fgs/art/2023/art_6bff4ef87291497fa72949e1fc88efb5.html 

2. Measures of the People's Republic of China for the Administration of Import and Export Food Safety

http://www.customs.gov.cn//customs/302249/302266/302267/3625391/index.html