In order to scientifically and accurately do a good job in the prevention and control for COVID-19 pandemic at imported cold chain food (including edible agricultural products, the same below) ports, consolidate the achievements of COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control and ensure the safety of the industrial chain and supply chain, the GACC has decided to further optimize and improve the prevention and control measures for COVID-19 pandemic at imported cold chain food ports. The main contents are as follows:

Monitoring and testing

The customs shall conduct COVID-19 pandemic virus nucleic acid monitoring and testing on imported cold chain foods.

The customs department is responsible for organizing and guiding importers and operators in customs supervision sites to carry out preventive disinfection of the selected goods at the port; the local governments and relevant departments shall organize monitoring and testing, preventive and comprehensive disinfection and other related work in follow-up links in accordance with relevant provisions.

Prevent pollution

Based on the test results, inspect and investigate the pollution prevention measures of the exporting countries (regions) according to laws, and confirm whether the safety management system and safety status of the exporting countries (regions) continue to meet China's import requirements. For overseas food manufacturers with problems, take measures such as rectification within a time limit, suspension of imports and revocation of registration in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

According to Item 2 of Article 35 of the Measures for the Administration of Imported and Exported Food Safety (Order No. 249 of the GACC), under the circumstance that "food is contaminated by pathogens of epidemic or evidenced to be capable of becoming the media of spreading such epidemics, with no possibilities of taking effective sanitation treatment", the GACC may take control measures to suspend or prohibit the import of relevant foods based on the risk assessment results.

According to Article 23 and Item 6 of Article 24 of the Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Overseas Manufacturers of Imported Food (Order No. 248 of the GACC), under the circumstance that "finding a registered manufacturer no longer conforms with the registration requirements, the GACC shall instruct the manufacturer to make rectification measures within a given time period and shall suspend imports from the manufacturer during the rectification period" and "the manufacturer refuse to cooperate with the GACC in reviews and incident investigations", the GACC shall revoke its registration and issue a public announcement.

With the development of the overseas COVID-19 pandemic, the GACC has continuously strengthened source control, strengthened communication and negotiation with the competent authorities of exporting countries (regions), raised the level of talks, increased the frequency of meetings, increased remote video inspections of overseas food enterprises, and timely taken measures such as rectification within a time limit and suspension of imports for enterprises with problems. In the first half of 2022, the GACC held a total of 208 video conferences with the competent authorities of countries (regions) exporting cold chain foods to China, and inspected 182 overseas manufacturers of imported cold chain foods by remote video, suspended imports of 60 enterprises that were found problems to prevent these enterprises from imported risks by contaminated goods.

Classification and disposal

If imported cold-chain foods are found to be positive for the nucleic acid of the COVID-19 virus, they shall be classified and disposed of in accordance with the relevant provisions of the guidelines issued by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council.

The customs shall timely notify the local Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the positive goods information and detection information, and cooperate with the follow-up disposal and customs clearance guarantee work.

Implementation requirements

The Announcement shall be implemented from the date of release, and the GACC No. 103 [2020] shall be repealed at the same time.

According to the Announcement of the GACC on Implementing Emergency Preventive Measures for Overseas Manufacturers of Imported Cold Chain Foods Detected Positive for COVID-19 Virus Nucleic Acids, the emergency preventive measures of suspending the acceptance of import applications for their products for 1 week or 4 weeks will no longer be implemented for overseas food manufacturers that are tested positive.

Caution

It should be noted that the State Council released the Technical Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 Virus in Cold Chain Food Production and Operation (Second Version) and the Technical Guidelines for the Prevention and Control and Disinfection of COVID-19 Virus in Cold Chain Food Production and Operation (Second Version). Domestic cold chain food related enterprises and practitioners still shall organize production in accordance with the above guidelines to prevent COVID-19 pollution; overseas manufacturers exporting cold chain foods to China shall do a good job in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 virus during production and operation. Relevant countries (regions) shall provide necessary assistance for customs to implement source control inspections and investigations in accordance with laws.

Source: GACC

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