Laws of the People's Republic of China

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine

The Urgent Circular of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on Strengthening the Supervision and Inspection of Food Containing Sudan Red (I)

The quality supervision, inspection and quarantine bureaus and quality and technology supervision bureaus of all provinces, autonomous regions and cities directly under the Central Government, the quality supervision, inspection and quarantine bureaus of Shenzhen, Xiamen, Ningbo and Zhuhai:

On February 18, 2005, the British Food Standards Agency gave warnings to consumers for consuming the foods containing the Sudan Red (I) pigment additive, and published on website the list of 419 foods produced by 30 manufacturers such as Heinz and Unilever (Please download from the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine www.aqsiq.gov.cn) and ordered to call back all these foods. Related researches indicate that the Sudan Red (I) has cancer-causing ability, and the EU prohibits adding Sudan Red (I) as pigment additives to food and so does our country. Thus all bureaus shall do the following work quickly:

1.

The quality supervision, inspection bureau directly under the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine shall conduct Sudan Red (I) test on imported foods, especially foods originated from EU, and prohibit the import of all the foods containing Sudan Red (I).

2.

The quality supervision, inspection bureau directly under the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine shall work closely with related authorities to check up and inspect the foods or raw materials recently imported that may contain Sudan Red (I). Those that belong to production field shall be checked up and inspected together with quality and technology supervision authorities and those that belong to circulation field shall be checked up and inspected with industrial and commercial authorities. The food in the list thus found out shall be dealt with in accordance with regulations.

3.

Local quality supervision and inspection bureaus shall strengthen the sanitary supervision over food production enterprises, examine the use of Sudan Red (I) in food, strengthen supervision, and random inspection test, and hold tight the door of the factory to prevent the food with Sudan Red (I) from circulation field.

4.

The export foods shall conduct Sudan Red (I) test and all foods containing Sudan Red (I) are prohibited from export. At the same time, the supervision and management of production process of export food shall be strengthened; it is prohibited to add Sudan Red in the production process.

5.

The test on Sudan Red (1) may refer to the test methods of EU (Please download from the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine www.aqsiq.gov.cn). For any technological problems, please contact with China Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Science Institute.

Telephone: 010-85771629

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine

February 23, 2005