The South African Parliament is mainly responsible for formulating laws, discussing and debating government policies and other political issues, and approving the budget of government departments submitted by the Minister of Finance to Parliament and other tasks.

The Ministry of Health is directly responsible for all food safety issues at the national level within the entire health system to achieve the goals of protecting consumers, promoting trade, ensuring food safety, and promoting national health. The main functions are to coordinate related work as a whole, determine policies (national norms and standards), support national food monitoring projects, support related work in provinces and cities, and conduct international liaison and cooperation.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is mainly responsible for the management of agriculture, food security, forestry and fishery natural resources. Food-related is mainly responsible for agricultural production and food safety, including animal production and health, food import and export standards, food safety and quality assurance, inspection, plant health, and veterinary management.

South Africa does not have license management for the import of general commodities, but implements license management for some special commodities, such as fish and fish products, some dairy products, some black tea, fermented beverages, alcohol, petroleum and some petrochemical products, radioactive mineral products, Some shoes, waste products, some medical products, products harmful to the environment, gambling equipment, weapons, etc. Import licenses are issued by the South African Ministry of Trade and Industry. Importers must obtain an import license before importing these commodities before they can ship overseas.