Handling 4960 tons of substandard imported food in the first half of 2015

On July 30, AQSIQ issued the Quality and Safety Status of China's Imported Food in the First Half of 2015 (White Paper). The white paper pointed out that in the first half of 2015, China returned or destroyed 1225 batches of unqualified imported food from 57 countries or regions, 49.60 tons and 14.52 million US dollars, down 12.3%, 31.8% and 67.6% respectively. There were no major food import problems in the first half of the year.

According to the data released by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, China's imported food has increased 4.2 times in 10 years, with an average annual growth rate of 17.6%. In the first half of 2015, China imported 552,000 batches, 20.352 million tons and 22.23 billion US dollars of food from 179 countries or regions, up 11.9%, 21.2% and-10.8% respectively.

The top 10 import food trade volumes are: EU, ASEAN, United States, new Zealand, Brazil, Australia, Russia, Canada, Ukraine and South Korea; fats and oils, dairy products, aquatic products and products, meat, grain products, alcohol, sugar, beverages, etc. are the main import food categories.

Among them, the import volume of edible vegetable oil, milk powder, meat, aquatic products and other bulk products reached 3.395 million tons, 614,000 tons, 1.325 million tons and 2.006 million tons respectively.

In 2015, AQSIQ further improved the import food safety supervision system, further tightened the inspection and quarantine supervision of imported food, vigorously implemented the responsibilities of imported food producers and operators, actively promoted international co-governance of food safety, effectively guaranteed the safety of imported food, and no major imported food problems occurred in the first half of the year.

In the first half of 2015, a total of 1225 batches of unqualified imported food from 57 countries or regions were returned or destroyed, with 49.60 tons and 14.52 million US dollars, respectively, down 12.3%, 31.8% and up 67.6% year-on-year. Among them, beverages, cakes, biscuits, grains and products are the main unqualified food categories; the main reasons for unqualified imported food include: unqualified food additives, microbial contamination, unqualified quality, etc.

It is understood that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued the "2014 Quality and Safety Status of Imported Food (White Paper)" on World Health Day this year (April 7), which aroused widespread concern from all walks of life. The release of the Quality and Safety Status of Imported Food in the First Half of 2015 (White Paper) will better guide the whole society to understand the overall situation of imported food, build an information sharing platform among the government, enterprises and consumers, and provide reference for inspection and supervision departments at all levels to do a good job in the supervision of imported food. At the same time, it provides basic data support for the quality safety management and development strategy of China's food industry.