On May 14, in order to implement the relevant provisions of the Food Safety Law and its implementing regulations, and further urge the implementation of the main responsibility of food production and operation enterprises, The General Administration of Market Supervision has drafted the Provisions on the implementation of Food safety Main Responsibility supervision and Management of Food production and operation enterprises (draft for comments) and the Provisions on the implementation of Food safety Main Responsibility supervision and Management of centralized dining units (draft for comments), which are now open to the public for comments, and the feedback deadline is June 12, 2024.

Food safety in schools, kindergartens, elderly care institutions, hospitals, government canteens and other centralized dining units is the top priority of food safety in catering services.

First, the dining group is special, mainly involving students, the elderly, patients and other key groups, students parents, elderly children, families of patients and so on are highly concerned about food safety.

Second, the dining scale is large, the number of diners, the concentration of meals is high, the supply of food materials is large, and once food safety problems occur, it is easy to cause mass foodborne diseases.

Third, the management is difficult, centralized dining units provide meals in various forms, including canteen self-management, contract management, food delivery units, etc., and the food safety management level of different business entities is uneven.



Among them, the "Centralized dining units to implement the main responsibility of food safety supervision and management Provisions (draft for comments)" a total of 24 articles, mainly including the following five aspects:

First, it has clarified the overall requirements such as the purpose, scope of application, overall requirements, responsibility system, and setting principles;

The second is to clearly refine the requirements and specific responsibilities of food safety management personnel such as food safety director and food safety officer of the canteen of the centralized dining unit and its contracted operating enterprises;

The third is to clarify the working mechanism and specific requirements of daily food safety directors and food safety officers, such as daily control, weekly investigation, and monthly scheduling;

Fourth, it is clear that the canteen of the centralized dining unit and its contracted operation enterprises, and the specific measures and management requirements of various food safety management personnel in fulfilling their responsibilities and training and assessment;

The fifth is to clarify the illegal situation and punishment to the person and other relevant legal responsibilities.


It is worth noting that the supervision and management system of centralized dining units introduced the food safety director for the first time. In the Provisions (Draft for comments), it is proposed that the canteen of the centralized dining unit, as the organizer, has the management responsibility for food safety; The contracting enterprise shall be directly responsible for the daily operation in accordance with the contract and shall be directly responsible for food safety. On the basis of food safety officers in accordance with the law, the following canteens and their contracted enterprises shall be equipped with food safety directors: (1) canteens of childcare institutions with more than 300 diners; (2) School canteens with more than 500 diners; (3) dining halls of elderly care institutions with more than 300 diners; (4) The number of diners or the number of catering more than 1,000 people.

At the same time, it is also mentioned in Article 21 of the "Provisions (Draft for comments)" that the canteen and its contracted business enterprises have illegal situations as provided for in the food Safety Law, in addition to being punished in accordance with the provisions of the food Safety Law, there are one of the following circumstances, The main person in charge, food safety director and food safety officer of the canteen and its contracted operation enterprise shall be fined not less than 1 times but not more than 10 times the income obtained from the unit in the previous year: (1) intentionally committing illegal acts; (2) the nature of the illegal act is egregious; (3) the illegal act causes serious consequences.

If the food safety director and food safety officer find that there is a potential risk of food safety accidents, they shall propose to stop the relevant catering service activities and other veto suggestions, and the canteen and its contracted business enterprises shall immediately analyze and judge, take disposal measures to eliminate risks and hidden dangers.

The canteen and its contracted management enterprises, as well as its main person in charge without legitimate reasons to fail to adopt the food safety director, food safety officer of the veto proposal, belongs to the provisions of the preceding paragraph of the intentional implementation of illegal acts. Food safety directors and food safety officers who have performed their duties according to law shall not be punished.

At the same time, the General Administration of Market Supervision also drafted the Provisions on the Supervision and Management of Food production and Operation Enterprises Implementation of the Main Responsibility for Food Safety (Draft for Comments), and simultaneously solicited opinions from the public.


Source: Municipal Administration of Supervision