The Measures for the Supervision and Administration of entrusted Food Production (Draft for comments) drew heated discussion_Industry News

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The Measures for the Supervision and Administration of entrusted Food Production (Draft for comments) drew heated discussion

Date：2024-01-19

After a lapse of eight years, the report system may be implemented after the registration of entrusted food production is canceled.

On January 9, 2024, the State Administration of Market Regulation issued the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Entrusted Food Production (Draft for Comment) (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft"), with a deadline of February 8, 2024. In the draft, the scope of application of commissioned production, contract requirements, responsibilities and obligations, supervision and management, and legal responsibilities are specified in detail. The following is a review of the highlights in the opinion draft.

Definition of commissioned production and scope of supervision

Entrusted production of food refers to the behavior of food producers and managers through a contract, and the food production enterprise that has obtained the food production license will produce food for them. Both parties shall carry out the commissioned production activities in accordance with laws and regulations, food safety standards, product technical requirements and the contract. The draft opinions may clarify the definition of entrusted production at the level of state department regulations for the first time, and clarify that entrusted food production is carried out in accordance with trademark authorization, franchise, etc., and shall be managed in accordance with this approach.

Both parties to the commissioned production shall implement the reporting system

The draft specifies that the entrusting parties shall report the entrusted production to the local food safety supervision and administration department at the county level within 10 days of signing the contract. The content of the report shall include the name, address, quality person in charge, contact information, production and operation license or record certificate number of pre-packaged food for sale only, health food registration certificate or record certificate and the name, variety, quantity, implementation standard and contract term of the food. The commissioned production contract of more than one year shall be reported once a year. The termination of the entrustment contract or the change of the name of the enterprise, its relocation, the scope of production and business, and the conditions of production license shall be reported to the local food safety supervision and administration department at the county level within 10 days from the date of the change. Since the provisions on the registration of commissioned processing were cancelled in 2015, the supervision of commissioned production has been difficult due to the lack of clear safety responsibilities of both entrusted parties, the lack of transparency of commissioned production information, and the poor coordination of cross-regional supervision, so the draft emphasizes the reporting system for the implementation of commissioned production.

The label shall mark the production and operation license of the entrusting parties or the record certificate number of only selling pre-packaged food

Based on China's existing regulations and standards, the entrusted production needs to indicate the name, address and contact information of the entrusted parties, as well as the entrusted party's food production license. According to the provisions of the draft, the production and operation license number of the entrusting party and the entrusted party or the record certificate number of the sale of pre-packaged food only should also be marked. The guiding words can be "entrusting party, agent" or "entrusting unit, entrusting unit".

Tips: If this provision in the draft is formally implemented, the label identification of commissioned food will face major updates, and enterprises should do a good job of package material management response plans.

Content of commissioned production contract

In the draft, there are two articles related to the entrustment contract, which clearly specify the food quality and safety related matters of the entrustment contract and the requirements of the supplementary agreement. The draft makes clear provisions on the contents to be included in the entrustment contract, including the qualifications of both parties, the rights and obligations of both parties, and the name, variety, quantity, specifications, process, implementation standards of the entrusted food, as well as the supply methods of raw and auxiliary materials, supervision methods, acceptance methods, etc.; And the disposal methods and responsibilities of food safety incidents, the arbitration resolution of quality disputes or disputes, and the recourse methods after compensating consumers.

The legal responsibility of both parties to the commissioned processing

In the draft, the situation and legal responsibility of the illegal qualification and behavior of the entrusted production parties are detailed, and the requirements of food safety responsibility are implemented in accordance with the provisions of the food safety Law and its implementing regulations. Both parties should be responsible for the commissioned production behavior, which means that once there are quality and safety problems, or illegal acts in the production process, they will bear the relevant responsibilities.

Special medical food, baby milk powder and small workshops for food production and processing are prohibited from commissioning production

In the draft, it is clear that special medical formula food and infant formula milk powder shall not be commissioned for production; Production and business entities such as small workshops for food production and processing that are under the administration of local legislation shall not engage in entrusted food production activities. This clause and China's "State Food and Drug Administration on the prohibition of commissioning, labeling, packaging and other ways to produce infant formula powder Announcement" and local requirements for the production and processing of small workshops such as "Jiangsu Province small food workshops and food vendors management Regulations" Article 19 "small food workshops shall not accept food production enterprises and other small food workshops commissioned production and processing or Is consistent with the requirements of food packaging.

Commissioned production "strict supervision"

In Article 16 of the Measures for the Supervision and Inspection of Food Production and Operation implemented in 2022, it is mentioned that the market supervision and administration department should take the entrusted production as the focus of supervision and inspection. The draft detailed the supervision and inspection content of the regulatory department and connected it with the current management system. Stipulated the content and requirements of supervision and inspection by the market supervision department, clarified the conditions for ordering the cessation of commissioned production activities, detailed the specific content of commissioned production supervision, emphasized the importance and particularity of supervision and inspection, and incorporated the entrusted production situation into the credit file as the starting point of credit supervision and smart supervision.

peroration

Commissioned production is a common way of production and processing in the food industry, but at the same time there are many difficulties in the supervision process, adhering to and implementing the "four strictest" requirements, the draft opinions on the two parties to the qualification inspection, raw material delivery acceptance, production process supervision, unsafe food recall and compensation responsibilities and obligations were detailed, the contract agreed matters, label identification requirements are clear. This opinion draft is closely related to the entrusted production enterprises, and the food partner network reminds relevant enterprises to positively feedback relevant opinions and take countermeasures according to the actual situation of enterprises.

Source: Foodbuddy

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