On July 20, 2018, the General Administration of Customs (GACC) briefed on the safety situation regarding food imported to China in 2017 on GACC Theme Day during the “China Food Safety Publicity Week” held in Qingdao, Shandong Province.

According to GACC, last year, China imported food from 187 foreign countries or regions totaling 1.429 million consignments, weighing 53.481 million tons and valued at 58.28 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%, 36.5% and 25.0%, respectively. The top 10 import markets were EU, USA, New Zealand, Indonesia, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Russia and Vietnam; the main import types were meat, edible oil, dairy products, aquatic products, cereal grains, wine, sugar, beverages, dried fruits and pastry.

In 2017, no major accident about import food safety happened in China, which was attributed to strengthened supervisory measures holding food operators accountable and efforts promoting the international co-governance in food safety. During the period, China Customs detected 6,631 consignments of non-compliant food imported from 94 countries or regions, weighing 49,000 tons and valued at USD 69.537 million, mainly involving beverages, pastry, sugar, cereal grains and wine. The non-compliance reasons included problems with product quality, certificates and labels, excessive additives and microbial contamination.

With attention from all social sectors, the GACC’s regular briefing helps increase the understanding of the overall status of imported food, build an information sharing platform among the government, enterprises and consumers, and provide reference for domestic regulators at all levels; its data will also contribute to China’s food quality management and food safety strategy.