Food and Drug Administration: forming a unified food and drug regulatory system within the year

At the beginning of this year, the central government made a decision to reform and improve the food and drug regulatory system At present, what kind of food safety situation is China facing, what is the progress of reform, and how to improve the food safety problem in China? The reporter interviewed Zhang Yong, director of the State Food and drug administration China has entered the period of high risk of food and drug safety Recently, the British economic think tank and the US DuPont company published the global food safety index ranking respectively, and China ranked 42nd and 39th in the two lists, which caused a heated discussion on the current situation of food safety in China According to Zhang Yong, the investigation and opinions of various research institutions can only be used as a reference, and can not affect our research and implementation of practical policies and measures based on the wishes of the domestic masses However, this ranking also has some inspiration: the top 1 / 4 of the countries are developed countries, which shows that the food and drug safety situation is closely related to the level of economic and social development of a country, which provides a perspective for a more rational view of China's food and drug safety situation and a more full recognition of the arduousness of China's food and drug supervision Zhang Yong introduced that from the international experience, in the early stage of rapid development of market economy, due to the imperfection of market self-restraint mechanism, the imperfection of business integrity system in line with the needs of market economy, food and drug safety and other product quality and safety issues will generally have a prominent period China has entered the high risk and easy risk period of food and drug safety From the perspective of China's national conditions, the food and drug industry has experienced rapid and extensive growth At present, the industry threshold is relatively low, the format is complex, the overall awareness and ability of quality and safety management are weak and uneven, and the external market regulation mechanism to achieve healthy development by reputation and brand is not complete At the same time, there are contradictions between the small and scattered operation of raw material supply farmers and the industrial intensive production, the high degree of safety dependence of each link of production and marketing, and the national large circulation and large division of labor risks Especially this year, the food and drug regulatory authorities have ushered in a special period of thin ice The reform of the regulatory system has been carried out at all levels of the country, and the continuity and stability of regulation are facing a huge test during the transitional period of reform In the face of pressure and challenges, the food and drug regulatory authorities have focused on both reform and supervision, intensively carried out a series of in-depth rectification actions, accelerated the pace of establishing the most stringent regulatory system, and effectively curbed various risks and hidden dangers At present, people are still dissatisfied with food and drug safety, and some of them have strong reactions On the one hand, the foundation of food and drug safety in China is not solid, and even some problems in some fields and links are quite prominent; on the other hand, due to the strong technical and professional nature of food and drug safety, it is difficult to achieve complete information symmetry among regulatory departments, enterprises and consumers, and some cases in the information society are often regarded as a whole problem, which affects the people's consumption Cost confidence However, the food and drug regulatory system always adheres to one principle We must pay attention to the actual feelings of the people, and take the demands and aspirations of the people to eat safe food and use safe drugs as the pressure and driving force of unremitting efforts According to Zhang Yong, the key to good food and drug safety work is that the food and drug regulatory authorities should correctly understand and bear two major responsibilities On the one hand, we should take the responsibility of strict supervision and accelerate the improvement of food and drug supervision In the future, we will focus on the following work First, while carrying out in-depth rectification and management of food and drug safety, we should focus on building a strict and authoritative legal order, focusing on the revision of food safety law and drug management law, and strictly normalizing supervision Second, we will reform the systems of examination and approval of innovation, registration and permission, increase the efforts to clean up the industry, eliminate the best and eliminate the worst, and comprehensively improve the quality and safety guarantee conditions for food and drug producers and operators Third, strengthen technical support, improve the inspection and detection and risk monitoring system, and improve the level of risk early warning, hazard control and emergency response Fourth, we will strengthen the scientific scheduling of monitoring resources, law enforcement forces, and frequency, scope, and density of law enforcement inspections, so as to effectively improve regulatory effectiveness Fifthly, implement the main responsibility, and effectively transfer the safety responsibility to the production and operation enterprises through external supervision and internal control Sixthly, we should strengthen organizational construction and form a high-quality professional and technical team On the other hand, it will take the responsibility of guiding social participation and promoting social co governance Strengthening government supervision is the first and necessary condition to ensure food and drug safety, but it is not sufficient Only when the government, enterprises, consumers and news media participate in the governance of food and drug safety and let the legal system, culture, science and technology and other factors play a role, can we achieve the stable and good development of food and drug safety A unified food and drug regulatory system will be formed in this year On March 26, this year, the general office of the State Council issued the "three decisions" plan of the State Food and drug administration The former food safety office of the State Council, the State Administration for Industry and commerce, the General Administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine, and the former food and drug administration immediately started the transfer and handover of relevant agencies, personnel, assets, etc By the end of May, the functions, personnel and business processes of all departments and bureaus of the General Administration had been basically standardized, and they began to formally perform their duties The basic completion of the top-level design at the national level and the rectification of the "leader" of the regulatory system lay a solid foundation for the reform of the regulatory system at all levels in the country Since the guidance of the State Council on local reform and improvement of the food and drug administration system (GF [2013] No 18) was issued on April 10, the reform of the supervision system at or below the provincial level has entered the substantive operation stage At present, more than 10 provinces (districts and cities) have completed the establishment of provincial institutions Zhang Yong said that the key to the goal of this reform, apart from the time requirement and the establishment of regulatory agencies in a relatively unified mode, is to achieve the practical improvement of regulatory capacity The relatively centralized and unified supervision system formed after the reform has clear responsibilities and subjects However, it is not easy to further improve the supervision ability If we do not grasp it well, there is a risk of "promoting one advantage and generating another disadvantage" Therefore, to do this reform well, the key is to achieve "two in place", one is to have a good understanding of the current food and drug safety situation, and the other is to implement the requirements of the central government on this reform First of all, the main body of organization and implementation of local food and drug regulatory system reform is local governments at all levels For this complex reform task, no department can accomplish it alone Only when the local government strengthens the unified organization and leadership from the perspective of the overall situation, and plays the role of overall planning and coordination, can we ensure that the reform is stable and orderly and achieve the expected goal Secondly, there are clear time schedule requirements for this reform In order to build an integrated, wide coverage, specialized and efficient food and drug regulatory system as soon as possible, and also to shorten the transition period of reform, the local reform should be completed by the end of the year according to the requirements of the State Council in principle Third, there are clear policy boundaries in this reform In addition to the fact that there can no longer be a variety of institutions, the most critical one is to "ensure that the new institutions have sufficient strength and resources to effectively perform their duties" In terms of the establishment of regulatory agencies, we should really achieve the goal of going through to the end, and set up food and drug regulatory agencies in towns or regions to prevent food and drug safety from falling on the front line Fourth, this reform has complete supporting measures In order to ensure the smooth and orderly implementation of the reform, No 18 document stipulates a series of supporting measures, which need to be implemented together Including increasing investment in food and drug supervision and improving the level of scientific supervision; all relevant departments should not only support the reform, but also fulfill their respective responsibilities and form a joint management mechanism.