China's food has grown safer, FAO report says

The pilot project to develop food safety indicators in China was started in 2019, a decade after the national food safety legislation went into effect, to assess its efficacy. The project report "Food safety indicator pilot project in China" was released this month by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.    

The main goals of the pilot projects were to obtain:
1. a snapshot of China's present food safety situation;
2. an analysis of the existing food control system's performance;
3. identification of system weaknesses and deficiencies; and
4. guidance and suggestions for improving the system in the next five-year national strategic plan.  
The ultimate focus of this pilot project was to develop food safety indicators that would aid in evaluating the efficiency and efficacy of China's food control system.    

The project has started by gathering selected specialists at the project kick-off and training session at the end of January 2019 to translate the 40 food safety indicators from English to Chinese. Following, experts were requested to select five pilot indicators based on their knowledge of food safety and job experience for pre-verification. In mid-February 2019, responses were collected, and the following indicators were chosen:
- indicator 1: the presence of a leading food safety agency (entity) to coordinate work to ensure food safety;
- indicator 4: the presence of an enabling national policy and legal and regulatory framework that are consistent with international standards, guidelines, and best practices and demonstrate government commitment to food safety;
- indicator 19: the existence of a system for reporting food safety events and outbreaks;
- indicator 26: the number of foodborne disease outbreaks recorded, including Salmonellosis and Listeriosis in humans; and
- indicator 36: the proportion of the population having access to safe drinking water. Following, five horizontal working groups were formed, four of which were responsible for indicators 4, 19, 26, and 36, and one for indicators 1 and 7. Each indicator required to reflect data that had been gathered and analyzed between 2009 and 2019.    

The indicators allowed for a thorough examination of current systems, norms, and frameworks. According to the findings of the pilot six indicators, China's food safety management system has improved from 2009 to 2019. China's food has grown safer. The organizational structure, working mechanism in regulation development, risk assessment, risk communication, and activities such as control of foodborne disease and improving potable water quality were all better organized and designed as a result of more effort and input to the food safety control system.    

 

Sources:  

http://www.fao.org/food-safety/news/news-details/en/c/1441575/   

http://www.fao.org/3/cb6634en/cb6634en.pdf