Measures for Administration of Food Recalls to Take Effect from September 1 (March 2015)

source：　 date：2015-04-01　 author：

The China Food and Drug Administration has recently issued the Measures for the Administration of Food Recalls (the "Measures") for implementation as of September 1, 2015.

The Measures prescribe time limits for the conduct of food recalls by food producers or traders. According to the Measures, first-degree recalls, which apply to food the ingestion of which has already caused or may cause serious health damage or even death, shall be initiated within 24 hours and completed within 10 business days from learning of the safety risk of such food; second-degree recalls, which apply to food the ingestion of which has already caused or may cause general health damage, shall be initiated within 48 hours and completed within 20 business days from learning of the safety risk of such food; third-degree recalls, which apply to food falsely labelled or marked, shall be initiated within 72 hours and completed within 30 business days from learning of the safety risk of such food. The Measures also specify the legal liability for behaviour such as the failure to stop production or trading of unsafe food immediately, failure to initiate a recall of unsafe food voluntarily or within the prescribed time limit; failure to recall unsafe food according to the recall programme, and failure to dispose of unsafe food in accordance with the regulations.