On Jul 28, the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) released information on food and cosmetics that were not allowed to enter the country in Jun 2023. In Jun 2023, the GACC detected 232 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 226 batches of food and 6 batches of cosmetics.

The information shows that the top 5 places of origin of food products banned from entry are Japan, Taiwan of China, the USA, Malaysia, Vietnam and Pakistan were placed joint fifth. See Figure 1 for details. Among them, the food from Japan has the largest quantity, with 50 batches, involving beverages, candy and chocolate, tea and tea products, baked goods, condiment and etc. Taiwan of China ranked second with 26 batches failing, with the largest number of unqualified products being nuts. The USA ranked third, with 16 batches failing, including candy and chocolate (7), meat and meat products (5), milk and dairy products (2), beverages (1) and canned food (1).

Fig.1 Place of origin of unallowed food

The largest category of reasons for failure was incomplete information provided (22.84%), followed by goods do not match the certificate (16.38%), unqualified labels (15.95%), no enter qualification (10.34%) and etc. See details in Fig.2. 

Fig. 2 Category of reasons for failure

The largest number of unqualified imported products is aquatic and its products, accounting for 23.45%. Statistics of other product categories are shown in Figure 3. The unqualified problem in aquatic products is mainly concentrated in food additives, with 8 batches. All eight batches failed entry due to sulfur dioxide residues. The largest number of unqualified aquatic products is from Pakistan, and the most notified ports are Zhanjiang and Guangzhou. 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.3 Category of imported unqualified products

The ports of entry for unapproved food were Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Qingdao, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Zhanjiang, Urumqi, Beijing, Gongbei, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, etc. Among them, the Shanghai port detected the largest number of non-entry foods, with 44 batches.

In addition to food, 6 batches of cosmetics were not allowed to enter the country, from Japan and Australia. Among them, 3 batches did not provide certificates or proof of conformity as required, 3 batches of products with non-compliant labelling. The ports of entry for unapproved cosmetics were Shengzhen and Tianjin.