The Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China formally goes into effect on June 1.
According to the new law, any food addictives that are not in the approved government catalog must not be used. No food products can be sold inspection-free and consumers can claim for ten times of the value of the food they buy once their rights are infringed via poor quality products.
The new law stipulates that food manufacturers shall immediately stop the production of food that is not up to the food safety standards and recall all this food that has already been put into market. They shall pay consumers ten times the value of the products they buy in addition to compensating them for their economic losses. In addition, the law states that healthcare food must not contain such information as "disease prevention" and "treatment functions" in their tags and specifications. Instead, they must provide information such as which group of people can use the product and which can not in addition to indicating the product's main ingredients.
The new law also states that the food safety inspection department must not exempt food manufacturers from inspection. It states that the food department needs to conduct audits on food samples and do so without charging any fees from the food manufacturers.
The law is said to have integrated all existing food safety standards in China to make the supervision easier. With the implementation of the new law, China will also start adopting a new food license from June 1. However, food suppliers who obtained a food sanitation license before the date can continue using the license until the validity date expires.
