Tracing system to ensure food safety

A tracing system to ensure the quality and safety of edible agricultural products will be set up in China, according to a draft amendment to the Law on the Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products.

The draft was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for review on Tuesday.

It says that to establish the system, enterprises and farmers' cooperatives that produce such products should obtain certificates verifying their quality and safety and be responsible for the products they sell.

They should also implement tracing management to ensure all the data and information about agricultural products that needs to be traceable is available.

In addition, the draft would require producers to hold to the principles of integrity and self-discipline, be open to public supervision and shoulder social responsibility.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, China's Cabinet, have made the quality and safety of agricultural products a priority.

President Xi Jinping has stressed that the quality and safety of agricultural products should be a key part of the transformation of the development mode of agriculture and the speeding up of the establishment of modern agriculture to ensure people's safety.

Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Tang Renjian said the existing law was approved in 2006 and slightly amended in 2018.

"It has played a vital role in regulating production and operating activities, as well as ensuring the quality and safety of agricultural products," he said, adding that 97 percent of products had passed regular inspections in recent years, indicating that the quality and safety of agricultural products nationwide is good.

The new amendment will better serve the future supervision and management of the quality and safety of agricultural products, Tang said.