In the first three quarters of this year, the national market supervision departments completed the sampling inspection of 2.2745 million batches of food additive projects, and detected 21200 batches of unqualified samples, with a unqualified rate of 0.93%, a decrease of 0.02 percentage points from the same period last year. For unqualified food and problematic samples found during random inspections, the State Administration for Market Regulation will promptly carry out verification and disposal, urge relevant enterprises to remove and recall unqualified food, and impose administrative penalties on relevant food production and operation enterprises in accordance with the law. Those suspected of illegal activities will be transferred to judicial authorities. Strict regulation of food additives has always been a key focus of food safety supervision work. In April of this year, the State Council Food Safety Office and six other departments jointly issued the "Comprehensive Management Plan for the Abuse of Food Additives", which was deployed nationwide to carry out comprehensive management actions and safeguard the safety of the public's "tongue". As of now, the special action has achieved phased results. The national market regulatory authorities have investigated and dealt with a total of 13180 cases of exceeding the scope and limit of food additives, involving a total amount of 23.31 million yuan and fines of 90.38 million yuan. Among them, 89 cases have been transferred to public security organs. Sun Huichuan, Director of Food Safety at the State Administration for Market Regulation, stated that in recent years, the topic of food additives has received high attention. Consumers are concerned that illegal food producers and operators may use it as a "fig leaf" for expired and spoiled raw materials, a "smokescreen" for passing off inferior products as good, and a "ghost trick" for adulteration. At the end of the day, what everyone dislikes is the "ruthless" illegal addition and abuse of food additives. Through rectification actions, the problem of excessive and limited use of food additives in some key areas and categories has been effectively curbed, but there is still a risk of repeated bans and resurgence in some areas. In terms of supervision and sampling, Li Qijian, a first level inspector of the Food Sampling Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, introduced that in the first three quarters of this year, the national market supervision departments completed 2.2745 million batches of food additive project sampling, detected 21200 batches of unqualified samples, and the unqualified rate was 0.93%, a decrease of 0.02 percentage points from the same period last year. In order to improve the accuracy of spot checks, while guiding local market supervision departments to carry out spot checks, the State Administration for Market Regulation also organized special spot checks on food additives at the local level. Focus on 21 high incidence categories of "two super" problems, such as edible agricultural products, vegetable products, and processed grain products, and pay special attention to foods with meaningful labels such as "zero added food additives", "no added food additives", "no preservatives", "no coloring agents", etc. According to the sampling results, no unqualified samples were detected in seven major categories of food, including beverages, stir fried foods, nut products, dairy products, etc; Fourteen major categories of food, including processed grains, pastries, and biscuits, were found to have violated regulations on the use of food additives to varying degrees, mainly involving bleaching agents such as sulfur dioxide, sweeteners such as saccharin, and preservatives such as dehydroacetic acid. For the unqualified food and problematic samples found during random inspections, we will promptly carry out verification and disposal, urge relevant enterprises to remove and recall unqualified food, and impose administrative penalties on relevant food production and operation enterprises in accordance with the law. Those suspected of illegal activities will be transferred to judicial authorities. ”Li Qijian said. Regulatory measures are continuously increasing regarding the use of food additives in high-frequency consumer categories such as meat products. Guo Xiangdan, Deputy Director of the Food Production and Operation Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, introduced that the new version of the detailed rules for the review of meat product production licenses has clearly required meat product production enterprises to strictly use food additives according to standards in the production process, and clarify the dosage and types. Develop six risk control lists for the production of hot processed cooked meat products, and guide enterprises to carry out "daily control, weekly investigation, and monthly scheduling" to ensure the compliant use of food additives. Develop operational guidelines for the supervision and inspection of meat product production, with a focus on the procurement, storage, use, and recording of food additives in meat product manufacturing enterprises as daily inspection priorities. In response to the issue of the use of food additives in the beverage industry, the detailed rules for the review of beverage production licenses require production enterprises to establish a product formula management system, which specifies the basis and prescribed amount of food additives used in the formula, to ensure that the food additives in the finished product comply with national food safety standards and other regulations. For the new technologies and products that have emerged in recent years, industry standards such as "Non concentrated Reduced Orange Juice" stipulate that food additives cannot be added to non concentrated reduced orange juice and other products. Zhang Jingyu, Deputy Secretary General of the China Food Industry Association, stated that the misuse of food additives by some companies not only harms consumer health but also overdraws industry trust. The association will actively promote industry self-discipline, advocate for enterprises to fulfill their main responsibilities, increase research and development investment, promote the concept of "non essential additives", and reduce dependence on food additives. We must solemnly warn food producers and operators that regarding the issue of food additives, if 'whether to add' is a voluntary action, then quality, safety, and integrity are the prescribed actions. Poor performance of self selected actions can affect sales, and it is stipulated that if the actions are not done well, they must be rejected with one vote. ”Sun Huichuan emphasized that in the next step, the State Administration for Market Regulation will work with relevant departments to continuously increase comprehensive governance efforts, further strengthen safety supervision of food additive production and use, consolidate governance effectiveness, and ensure that the people can eat with peace of mind. (New Society)