Food Hygiene Law of the People's Republic of China
Food Hygiene Law of the People's Republic of China
Food Hygiene Law of the People's Republic of China
Order of the President [1995] No. 59
(Adopted at the 16th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on October 30, 1995, promulgated by Order No. 59 of the President of the People's Republic of China on October 30, 1995, and effective from the date of promulgation)
President Jiang Zemin
October 30, 1995
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Food Hygiene
Chapter III Hygiene Of Food Additives
Chapter IV Hygiene Of Containers, Packaging, Utensils And Equipment
Used For Food
Chapter V Formulation Of Food Hygiene Standards And Measures For Food
Hygiene Control
Chapter VI Food Hygiene Control
Chapter VII Food Hygiene Supervision
Chapter VIII Legal Responsibility
Chapter IX Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law was enacted for the purpose of ensuring food hygiene, preventing food contamination and harmful substances from injuring human health, safeguarding the health of the people and improving their physical fitness.
Article 2 The State institutes the system of food hygiene supervision.
Article 3 The public health administrative department under the State Council shall be in charge of supervision and control of food hygiene throughout the country.
Other relevant departments under the State Council shall be responsible for control of food hygiene, within the scope of their respective functions and duties.
Article 4 This law shall be observed by whoever engages in food production or marketing within the territory of the People's Republic of China.
This Law applies to all foods and food additives as well as containers, packaging, utensils and equipment used for food, detergents and disinfectants; it also applies to the premises, facilities and environment associated with food production or marketing.
Any person shall have the right to inform the authorities and lodge a complaint about any violation of this Law.
Article 5 The State encourages and protects the social supervision exercised by public organizations and individuals on food hygiene.
Chapter II Food Hygiene
Article 6 Food shall be nontoxic and harmless, conform to proper nutritive requirements and have appropriate sensory properties such as color, fragrance and taste.
Article 7 Principal and supplementary foods intended specially for infants and preschool children shall conform to the nutritive and hygienic standards promulgated by the public health administrative department under the State Council.
Article 8 In the process of food production or marketing, the requirements for hygiene stated below shall be conformed to:
1. The environment inside and outside any food production or marketing establishment shall be kept clean and tidy; measures shall be taken to eliminate flies, rodents, cockroaches and other harmful insects and to remove conditions for their propagation; and a prescribed distance shall be kept from any toxic or harmful site;
2. An enterprise engaged in food production or marketing shall have workshops or other premises for the preparation of raw materials, and for processing, packing and storage that are commensurate with the varieties and quantities of the products handled;
3. Appropriate facilities shall be made available for disinfection, changing clothes, toilet, natural and artificial light, ventilation, prevention of spoilage, protection against dust, elimination of flies and rodents, washing of equipment, sewage discharge and the containment of garbage and other wastes;
4. The installations layout and technological application processes shall be rational in order to prevent contamination between foods to be processed and the ready-to-eat foods, and between raw materials and the finished products; food must not be placed in contact with any toxic substance or filth;
5. Tableware, kitchenware and containers for ready-to-eat foods must be cleaned and disinfected prior to use; cooking utensils and other utensils must be washed after use and kept clean;
6. Any containers, packaging, utensils and equipment used for the storage, transportation, loading and unloading of food as well as the conditions under which these operations are carried out must be safe, harmless and kept clean in order to prevent food contamination;
7. Ready-to-eat foods shall be kept in small packets or in nontoxic, clean packaging materials;
8. All persons involved in food production or marketing shall maintain a constant standard of personal hygiene, taking care to wash their hands thoroughly and wear clean work clothes and headgear while preparing or selling food; also, proper utensils should be used when selling ready-to- eat foods;
9. Any water used must conform to the national hygiene standards for drinking-water in urban and rural areas;
10. The detergents and disinfectants used shall be safe and harmless to human health.
The hygienic requirements for food production or marketing undertaken by food vendors and persons engaged in the food business in urban and rural markets shall be formulated specifically according to this Law by the standing committees of the people's congresses in the provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government.
Article 9 The production and marketing of foods in the following categories shall be prohibited:
1. foods that can be injurious to human health because they are putrid or deteriorated, spoiled by rancid oil or fat, molded, infested with insects or worms, contaminated, contain foreign matter or manifest other abnormalities in sensory properties;
2. foods that contain or are contaminated by toxic or deleterious substances and can thus be injurious to human health;
3. foods that contain pathogenic parasites, microorganisms or an amount of microbial toxin exceeding the tolerance level prescribed by the State;
4.meat and meat products that have not been inspected by the veterinary health service or have failed to pass such inspection;
5. poultry, livestock, game and aquatic animals that have died from disease, poisoning or some unknown cause, as well as products made from them;
6. foods contaminated by use of filthy or seriously damaged containers or packages, or filthy means of conveyance;
7. foods that impair nutrition or health because they are adulterated or misbranded;
8. foods processed with non-food raw materials; foods mixed with non- food chemical substances, or non-food stuffs used as food;
9.
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