New food disposal norms for China

A new proposal in China plans to change the process of how food products are disposed when they are past their expiry date or do not meet food safety standards in the country. According to a draft proposal that has been published on the website of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, there have been many complaints on how some companies have repackaged unsafe food products for sale. In order to counter this practice, the administration is proposing changes in the food disposal process to ensure that law enforcement officials will witness the destruction of food that fails to meet safety standards or is past its expiry date. Under the draft proposal, at least two officials with district-level industrial and commercial bureaus will be on hand to supervise and record the destruction of these foods. The destruction of these foods will be handled by incineration, burial as landfill or blending into organic fertilizer. According to a consultant working with a ‘Big Four’ consulting firm, who has many food manufacturers with interests and assets in China as his clients, the new proposal is a welcome move for the Chinese food industry. The consultant, who requests anonymity, says that current self-governed recall system for food manufacturers is faulty and requires state intervention to work properly. “It seems that the recall system works well only in spurts, when the outside world comes to know of a contamination problem and the government gets into it. The rules are there, but the enforcement and oversight bit is lacking,” he said. The customer, he said, would definitely be more confident of the products on the shelves if the law enforcement officials were present at such food disposals. “I know from my experience there that many food manufacturers, but mostly smaller, local ones, indulge in practices like changing packages, selling to other businesses or off unregulated stores,” he said. The proposed draft was posted on August 12, and is open for public comments until August 29, according to the agency.