Over the past two years, plant-based food consumption has grown by 49% across the EU, reaching a total sales volume of €3.6 billion.
Halal meat products are included in the OFS (State Council Food Safety Committee) meat supervision list
2025-05-15
The safety of meat and meat products has recently become a hot topic in China. Last year, a herd of diseased pig carcasses floated into a river near Shanghai, sparking concerns about the spread of foodborne illnesses from black market meat. Meat suppliers in China have recently been accused of engaging in various unsanitary practices, including adulterating their products with expired meat.
In this latest surge, the Office of Food Safety (OFS), part of the State Council, is tightening its grip on regulating the production and sale of meat and meat products. OFS, affiliated with China's National Food Safety Commission, is China's most powerful leader; its members, including the prime minister, set high-level food safety policies.
The OFS issued a notice earlier this month directing the government to prioritize safety monitoring for meat, including meat products. The notice aims to address issues related to meat being damaged by weather, high temperatures, or improper storage, as well as counterfeit and substandard meat. The notice requires all provincial OFSs to strictly enforce these regulations.
Specifically, the notice requires local OFS provinces to organize local agencies to conduct targeted inspections of companies producing meat products, wholesale markets, bazaars, supermarkets, specialized meat stores, and food service establishments. Key departments that will collaborate in this regard include the China Food and Drug Administration and the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.
The local OFS and these agencies will look for non-compliant institutions and review the systems in place for testing incoming products, production controls, finished product inspections, and storage conditions. Products must have documentation and stamps to prove they have been inspected and tested in accordance with China's Animal Disease Prevention and Control Law and that they have undergone appropriate quality testing.
The OFS also directed local authorities to prioritize the regulation of halal meat production. Halal meat, which is increasingly exported from China to the Middle East, has recently been at the center of adulteration issues. Local OFSs should increase scrutiny of halal meat production licenses and carefully follow halal meat labeling regulations. The OFS should direct specific resources to inspect relevant slaughterhouses, distributors, and food service establishments.
He also noted overall requirements, including establishing a better system for handling citizen complaints about substandard meat and tracking the product.
The local OFS needs to establish a complaint hotline and a reward system for whistleblowers. China has used this system for several years to handle complaints from citizens and to support financial rewards for raising food safety issues.
Furthermore, penalties for non-compliance are harsh. The government has demonstrated its commitment to fully implementing relevant laws and regulations, including penalties for violators. In the latest draft of the Food Safety Law, released for public comment by the Chinese legislature, fines of up to approximately $30,000 are proposed for catching diseased or contaminated meat. The announcement also strengthens penalties in the Food Safety Law, including criminal prosecution. The government has increasingly demonstrated its resolve and commitment to prosecuting violators of food safety standards.
All of this may sound promising now. But it may also sound rather familiar. China has cracked down and tightened measures in the past, yet its food safety lapses continue. The instructions accompanying the latest draft of the Food Safety Law now promise "strict" penalties for violators. But the government will likely have to devote more resources to assisting businesses in complying with basic regulations and addressing the severity of the problems that continue to crop up with disturbing regularity. Of course, more needs to be done before we can declare the reforms a success.