The imported prepackaged foods of Beijing XX Company used both labels in Chinese and foreign language. Both the production date (2016.02.13) and the shelf life (2017.02.13) were marked on the Chinese label, but only "Best before" was marked on the label in foreign language, which pointed to the date of 2016.02.13. There was an obvious inconsistency between the labels in Chinese and foreign language regarding the shelf life or best before date.

According to Article 97 of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Food Safety Law), imported prepackaged food and food additive shall have Chinese labels. If instruction is required by laws or regulations, and labels shall comply with this Law and provisions of other laws, regulations and food safety standards. Article 67 stipulates that prepackaged food shall be labeled on the package, and lists the production date, shelf life and other matters that should be marked on the labels. At the same time, Paragraph 2 of Article 71 stipulates that labels and instructions of food and food additives shall be clear and easy to read items including the date of production and shelf life shall be clearly labeled and easy to distinguish. Article 125, Paragraph 1, Item 2 stipulates that in violation of the Law, producing or trading the prepackaged food or food additives without label; or the labels or instructions do not comply with the Law, the county and above level food safety supervision and management department will confiscate the illegally gained benefits/foods and food additives illegally produced or traded/and the tools, equipment and food raw material used for illegal production or trading as well. The producer or trader is also subject to a fine between RMB5,000 to 50,000 if the total value of the commodity is less than RMB10,000, or a fine between five and ten times if the total value of the commodity exceeds RMB10,000; for severe violation of the law, the producer shall be instructed to stop production, or get its business license revoked. Articles 56 and 57 of Q&A (revised version) on GB 7718-2011 National Food Safety Standard General Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods stipulate that the labels for imported prepackaged foods can use both Chinese and foreign language, and the foreign language should have a corresponding relationship with the Chinese mandatory labeling content and the optional labeling content, that is, the meanings in Chinese and foreign language should be basically the same.

Therefore, the Beijing Shunyi District Market Supervision Department determined that the act of Beijing XX Company violated the provisions of Article 71, Paragraph 2 and Article 97, Paragraph 1 of the Food Safety Law, and based on the nature and circumstances of the illegal act such as the duration, quantity, etc. of selling the imported food involved, imposed administrative penalties of confiscation of illegal gains and fines within the statutory penalty types and ranges.

Source: China Judgments Online

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