China has announced a new set of strict regulations governing how food producers and operators must store, market and transport their products sold online, according to Food Safety News.
The China Food and Drug Administration’s “Measures of the Investigation and Punishment of Illegal Conducts Concerning Online Food Safety,” referred to as "Order 27," is designed to improve the safety of online food trading by enhancing transparency and accountability.
Some of Order 27’s provisions specifically target food supplements and infant formula, products which Chinese food safety officials regard as particularly troublesome due to past problems.
Among all of the new regulations, perhaps the biggest one is the rule that requires that online food producers and sellers must guarantee the safe storage and transportation of food sold online which requires refrigeration, insulation or freezing, and they must use storage and transportation services with appropriate storage and transportation abilities.
One element conspicuously absent from Order 27 is any reference to cross-border internet sales. All of the new regulations apply to food producers and sellers engaging in online transactions within China itself.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration regulates internet food sales similar to how it oversees home-based businesses and requires such sellers to register as a “facility” if the food products are sold outside the individual’s state of residence.
To read more, click here.
