December 31, 2010

China to establish dairy recall system

China is to establish a recall system on imported dairy products against the backdrop of growing scandals about product safety in recent years.

Sellers of imported dairy products are obliged to initiate a recall in cases where the products are found to pose potential threat, or have caused actual damage to consumers' health, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Chinese agents are required to disseminate related information to the public and notify retailers to stop selling and consumers to stop using the products in such cases.

The state watchdog on quality should issue a warning regarding such incidents. It is also entitled to use measures such as tightening supervision and ordering a recall should sellers fail to do so.

The quality authority has detected more than 670 tonnes of disqualified dairy products between March and August this year, most of which came from Australia.