On Jun 28, the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) released information on food and cosmetics that were not allowed to enter the country in May 2023. In May 2023, the GACC detected 122 batches of unqualified food and cosmetics items such as safety and hygiene items in the port supervision link and were not allowed to enter the country. Among them, there are 118 batches of food and 4 batches of cosmetics.

The information shows that the top 3 places of origin of food products banned from entry are Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan of China. See Figure 1 for details. Among them, the food from Vietnam has the largest quantity, with 15 batches, involving baked goods, aquatic products, fruits and derived products, nuts and seeds, and beverages. Indonesia ranked second with 12 batches failing, 8 batches of aquatic products and 4 batches of baked goods. Taiwan ranked third, with 11 batches failing, with the largest number of failures being in coffee and its products, accounting for 54.55%.

Fig.1 Place of origin of unallowed food

The largest category of reasons for failure was food additive (29.41%), followed by labeling (19.12%), microbiological (13.97%), quality index (11.76%) and others (25.00%). Food additive irregularities were mainly concentrated in baked goods, with 17 batches, accounting for 48.57%. Food additives are the most noteworthy, with most failures due to the over-range or over-use of food additives. The government has continuously perfected the legal system of food additive and strictly regulated the addition of illegal food additives and abuse of food additives. Food products entering the Chinese market need to meet the requirements of Chinese food safety standards. If you have any questions about food additives please contact us via global_info@foodmate.net.

Fig. 2 Category of reasons for failure

The ports of entry for unapproved food were Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanning, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Xiamen, Tianjin, Urumqi, Zhanjiang, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Hohhot, Dalian, Hangzhou, Shantou, Chengdu and Haikou. Among them, the Shanghai port detected the largest number of non-entry foods, with 29 batches.

In addition to food, four batches of cosmetics were not allowed to enter the country, from France, Germany and Hongkong of China. Among them, 2 batches did not provide certificates or proof of conformity as required, 2 batches of products with non-compliant labelling.