China lays out recall system for food, toys
1/9/2007 9:05
China's quality watchdog launched landmark recall systems for unsafe food
products and toys yesterday amid efforts to improve the nation's product
safety.
The recall platforms resulted from recent regulations on the
supervision of product quality and food safety authorized by the State Council,
the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine
said.
The new rules require producers to take the major responsibility
for preventing the production and sale of unsafe food and toys. The requirement
will push manufacturers to enhance product safety and step up efforts on quality
management, the administration said.
The regulations require
manufacturers to stop production and sales, notify vendors and customers and
report to quality control authorities if product defects are
found.
Vendors are also required to stop sales and notify their suppliers
or producers if they discover safety problems.
Producers are subject to
fines up to triple the product value, and vendors will face fines from 1,000
yuan (US$133) to 50,000 yuan for failure to follow the rules, said Liu Zhaobin,
chief of the quality administration's department of policy and
regulation.
Manufacturers are ordered to take measures including
replacements or refunds to mitigate the effects of unsafe food or
toys.
Producers must launch timely investigations of defects, and when
necessary, the quality watchdogs at and above the provincial levels should
supervise their efforts.
Food producers are required to set up archives
recording all information on food production and sales and ensure that root
causes of safety problems can be found immediately.
Toy firms should stop
production and sales and recall products when defects are found in their toys
even if they meet the nation's quality laws and other safety
regulations.
The government took the measures after the safety of
China-made products became a major concern at home and abroad as a result of
recent product health scares.
The problems ranged from ducks and hens
that were fed cancer-causing Sudan Red dye to make their egg yolks red to pet
food made of melamine-tainted wheat protein that killed scores of dogs and cats
in the United States.
Xinhua
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