China Gets Tough on Offenders with Revised Food Safety Law

After years of food scandals and diminished consumer confidence, China is cracking down on food safety violators with harsher fines and punishment thanks to a revision to the existing Food Safety Law.

Set to go into effect October 1, the amendment was recently passed into law by the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature. Among the highlights are heavier fines, more compensation for victims, automatic jail time for offenders, and punishment for officials who are in dereliction of their duties.

According to the amended law, food producers may be fined 30 times the value of their unsafe products, an increase from 10 times. As well, if the value of the unsafe food products is less than RMB 10,000 ($1,630), the offender may face fines of up to RMB 150,000, three times the previous amount. The cost of compensation for victims has increased significantly.

The amended Food Safety Law will allow police to jail offenders for up to 15 days without a trial.The amended Food Safety Law will allow police to jail offenders for up to 15 days without a trial. This “administrative detention” is similar to punishments given out to passengers that misbehave on airplanes, but is separate from the month-long detention in which suspects can be put in jail before police formally charge them with a crime.

The amended law will make landlords responsible for what happens on their property, just as it will make online platforms responsible for food vendors upon their websites, requiring their registration. As well, the new law will punish food safety officials who fail at their jobs with demotion and dismissal.

China’s domestic milk industry will undergo further regulations to help regain consumer confidence. Milk producers will be required to test every batch of milk, conduct regular internal inspections and submit reports to regulators.

China Daily is calling the revisions the “toughest food safety law” in China’s history.

China’s first Food Safety Law came into effect in 2009, a year after a devastating melamine food scandal rocked the milk industry, killing six babies and causing hundreds of thousands of others to fall ill.

Food Safety