Food safety is an interlocking broad concept, not only referring to the quality of food itself, but also all kinds of packaging, containers, tools and other products that come into direct or indirect contact with food under its framework. AQSIQ has organized a national census on food packaging, containers, tools and other products. After inspection, some problems hidden in the food packaging surfaced one after another.
To this end, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China promulgated the "General Rules for the Production License of Food Packaging, Containers, Tools and Other Products" and "Detailed Rules for the Review of the Production License of Food Plastic Packaging, Containers, Tools and Other Products", and officially launched food packaging, containers, tools and other products. and other products market access system. This is the first step in my country's implementation of administrative supervision on the production of food-related products. At present, the "QS" access work for packaging is being promoted and popularized across the country.
The first batch of plastic packaging to test the water
The first batch of products included in the "QS" access list are plastic packaging, containers, tools and other products for food, covering a variety of packaging products that are frequently contacted on a daily basis, such as drinking water barrels and retail commodity packaging bags. The certification of the first batch of production enterprises is only the beginning of what is expected, and the products of some large-scale packaging enterprises have successfully completed the transformation. However, the overall improvement of the quality threshold of the food packaging industry requires a gradual process. Just like the food "QS" system, it also experienced a process from unfamiliar to familiar at first.
Industry insiders clearly pointed out that the implementation of the market access system for food plastic packaging, containers, tools and other products is an inevitable choice for my country to effectively strengthen food safety supervision under the current economic and social development conditions. They are looking forward to seeing the food packaging "QS" system, while improving food safety issues, can boost the healthy and orderly development of the food packaging industry and drive industrial upgrading.
At present, the "QS" access work is being advanced in an orderly and comprehensive manner, and the entire packaging industry has triggered a new round of reshuffle due to the raising of the access threshold. "AQSIQ fully implements the food packaging market access system, which will play a significant role in improving the quality and safety threshold of the entire food packaging industry, effectively ensuring that the quality and safety of food meet the prescribed standards, and ensuring that people's health is not infringed. important role." A person in charge of a large packaging company highly affirmed the timeliness of the "QS" system.
Global focus on packaging quality
Packaging quality has always been a quality hotspot of global concern. Domestic and foreign countries not only put forward higher and higher requirements for the quality of food itself, but also pay more and more attention to the safety and quality of food contact materials and products, and also put forward higher requirements. At present, many countries are studying the use of green packaging and using non-toxic and harmless packaging materials. In the international food trade, the regulations and standards formulated by various countries have played an active role in safeguarding the health of consumers and ensuring food safety. However, it is undeniable that some harsh regulations have had a negative impact on the market access of products from developing countries and economically underdeveloped regions. In particular, the corresponding regulations and migration limit standards formulated by some economically developed countries such as Europe and the United States have increased the import threshold. This not only affects the import of food contact materials to these countries and regions, but also has a wide-ranging impact on the import of related food due to the problem of food packaging materials.
At present, the market share of food containers, utensils and packaging materials is increasing year by year. However, the research level of safety risk of food packaging in my country is not high. It is understood that there have been systematic studies on the toxic and harmful substances that may be precipitated from the same food plastic packaging and container under various conditions, and on this basis, various food plastic packaging, containers, tools and other products have been studied. The scope of use, use environment and other issues have been stipulated in detail, and these regulations are still relatively lacking in our country.
Industry bottlenecks need to be broken through
There are many reasons for the stagnation of food packaging quality. Industry experts have analyzed that the development of the domestic packaging industry has encountered three major bottlenecks: waste caused by blind development of oversupply, lack of independent innovation and development potential, and policies and regulations lag behind the development of the industry. Among them, the use of recycled materials and fillers to produce fake and shoddy products is common in the plastic packaging material industry, environmental landscape pollution caused by toxic packaging products and plastic waste, and mutual price reduction and vicious competition in the market, production and development are in laissez-faire chaos , disrupting the market, harming the interests of consumers, and causing environmental pollution. These are the problems that the food packaging industry needs to overcome one by one with the help of "QS".
After the implementation of the market access system for food plastic packaging, containers, tools and other products, enterprises can only engage in the production of food-related products through the review of quality assurance capabilities and production conditions organized by the quality inspection department. At present, the enterprises that can obtain production licenses through strict market access are all outstanding enterprises with great influence in the industry.
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine also started the undocumented investigation of packaging "QS" in stages. After entering the stage of unlicensed investigation, the enterprises that have obtained the license can produce normally; the enterprises that have submitted an application for review, but are in the process of reviewing and have not yet obtained the production license, must mark the product as "trial product" and approve the product. Only after the batch is sent to the designated inspection agency for inspection can it be sold out of the factory; enterprises that have not submitted an application for review are not allowed to produce, and food production enterprises are not allowed to use their products.
The marking regulations will be implemented in September
Product identification is also a detail and hot spot that many consumers and enterprises pay attention to. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued the "Food Labeling Management Regulations" last year, which will be implemented from September 1 this year. "Food Labeling Management Regulations" is a reiteration and supplement to the food labeling supervision and management regulations on the basis of the current food labeling regulations and relevant standards and in light of the actual situation in my country. This regulation regulates food labeling mainly in terms of labeling content and labeling form, and applies to food produced (including subpackaged) and sold within the territory of my country. At the same time, the regulations also increase the labeling requirements for food origins, subpackagers, warning instructions, and minimum sales units, and clearly stipulate the prohibited labeling content of food labels and the prohibitive obligations of food producers and operators, strengthening food producers and operators. responsibility for quality and safety.