Imported milk powder should adhere to the "China standard"

In the first half of this year, China imported 687,200 tons of powdered milk, an increase of 75.08% year-on-year, with an import volume of US$3.433 billion, a year-on-year increase of 156%. Among the imported unqualified foods investigated in the first half of the year, 135 batches of dairy products were involved, totaling 271 tons. The major reasons for the failure were excessive mold, illegal additions, and unqualified inspection materials. The AQSIQ stated that the problematic dairy products were found at the inspection and quarantine institutions at the port of entry during inspection and quarantine, and had been disposed of according to law and had not entered the domestic market for sale.

The number of imported milk powder hit a new high in recent years, and the unqualified milk powder that was blocked outside the country has also remained high. On the one hand, it shows that domestic consumers have high confidence in imported milk powder, and on the other hand, there are some imported milk powder that are not satisfied with China's "soil and water". Serious problem. After the melamine incident, more and more foreign milk powders tried to seize the Chinese market. During the rapid expansion process, issues such as over-standard molds, illegal additions, and domestic Chinese labels were frequently encountered. Some businesses even imported large bales of powder for domestic filling. Imitation of imported milk powder sells for high profits. On April 1st this year, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) implemented a new regulation that strictly controls the Chinese label of imported milk powder. If the label is not qualified, milk powder will be returned or destroyed. This requires overseas manufacturers and distributors to sell milk powder to China. Print special packaging and labeling to ensure that these packaging labels are exclusive packaging labels for milk powder entering the Chinese market to minimize “sticker” changes in shelf life, domestic filling of milk powder and impersonation of imported milk powder.

The above new rules mainly strengthen the supervision of imported milk powder from the “form”, and the Measures for Supervision and Administration of Inspection and Quarantine of Imported and Exported Dairy Products that came into force on May 1st last year mainly increases the supervision of imported milk powder from the “content”. The strengthening of supervision in these two areas raises the threshold of entry of foreign milk powder into China with stricter standards. A large number of imported milk powder is found to be unqualified at the port of entry by the inspection and quarantine authorities and is immediately destroyed. The amount of substandard milk powder even exceeds the amount of imported milk powder during the same period. It happened against this background. This was interpreted by some foreign media as saying that China must strictly limit imports of foreign milk powder in order to implement "trade protection" for domestic milk powder. This is certainly a misunderstanding. In fact, this mainly embodies the "China Standard" principle - all foreign milk powder that enters the Chinese market through legal channels must meet China's national standards for milk powder from "form" to "content". Otherwise, it will be unqualified. product. Although the identity of the imported milk powder is “foreign”, the quality standard must be named “middle”. Since the imported milk powder is to be sold in the Chinese market, it is in line with Chinese consumer demand and cannot be out of line with China’s quality standards.

If foreign milk powder enters China, it must and can only be measured in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations and national standards for food safety. If it is combined, it is allowed to be sold in China. If not, it will be returned or destroyed. In addition to the illegal labeling and non-compliance of packaging labels, there are two cases in which imported milk powder does not meet the Chinese standard. One is that the quality of the milk powder has obvious problems or defects, and the export country must also count as unqualified products. After entering China, The main indicators measured were significantly lower than the Chinese standards. Another situation is that there is no obvious problem with the quality of imported milk powder, and it is a qualified product in its exporting country. However, after China enters China, some or a few indicators that are measured are lower than the Chinese standard, and they are unqualified products. In the latter case, the foreign milk powder in the country of origin that belongs to a quality product has been sentenced to “unqualified” when it enters China. It looks a bit embarrassing, but since it enters the Chinese market, it must implement the Chinese standard and it must comply with China. Consumer demand is otherwise irresponsible to Chinese consumers.

Imported milk powder adheres to the "China standard" and to a certain extent reflects the "consumption sovereignty" of China's milk powder market. Full release of foreign milk powder to participate in the Chinese market competition will help force domestic milk powder to work hard, make every effort to improve governance, and reverse the unfavorable situation of passive earth-keeping as soon as possible.