China stressing on measure to enhance food safety on CCPR 48th Session

 

The session, which covers 13 subjects of discussion; would review some 500 items of maximum residue limits for 40 pesticides in food and feed including  grain, vegetable and straw; amend pesticide residue analytical method and food/animal feed classification; and formulate the priority list of pesticides. During the session period, international or regional bilateral or multi-lateral talks and various workshops will be held.

 

Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues is a specialized technical committee under Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) - an international food safety standard committee established jointly by FAO and WHO. The main responsibilities of Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues include establishment of maximum residue limits for pesticides in food and feed. Since 2007, China has been the host government. This is the 10th session hosted by China. 

 

In his address, Sun Zhonghua, the chief agronomist of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture highly appreciated the important role of CCPR played in the promotion of a safe, open and fair international pesticide residue limits standard and food trade system, as well as the promotion of the establishment of pesticide residue limits standard in all countries. He also gave an introduction to China’s series national strategies and measures to safeguard food safety.

 

Sun Zhonghua pointed out that China has the largest population in the world, it is a major farm product production, trading and consumption country. Chinese Ministry of Agriculture always pays high attention to the issues of farm-product quality and food safety. In 2015, China issued the amended food safety law. The new law applies most stringent standard, most strict supervision, most severe penalty and most serious responsibility system to structure such a food safety safeguard system to ensure the “the safety on the tip of the tongue”. The new law has been put into effect from the 1st October 2015. In 2015, China also initiated the “national agricultural sustainable development program”, requesting reduced and controlled use of pesticide, with an objective to achieve zero growth of the use of chemical pesticide by 2020. 

 

The 13th-Five-Year Plan and the central government No.1 document this year, which were just approved last month, clearly requested an implementation of food safety strategy and speeding up the process of perfection of the national food safety standard such that the pesticide residue limit criterion will come in line with the Codex standard by 2020. Moreover China will promote wide use of high-efficient, low-toxic and low-residue pesticides; speed up formulation of farm product and food safety supervision system covering all food production chains starting at the crop fields up to a meal table; establish a whole-course traceable information platform, construct a standardization system and a sound risk assessment and detection system; intensify the campaign of establishment of food safety cities and farm-product quality counties and to take action against rural food safety problems. “Through these measures, China’s food safety will further improve, and ecological environment will improve”, said Sun Zhonghua.