China Medical News

Newly formed China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) started operation on Friday (March 22^nd) as a ministerial-level agency to improve food and drug safety. Previously, there were 4 different groups of regulators supervising the food and drug safety - State Council's Food Safety Office, the State Food and Drug Administration, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) – with some overlapping of supervision from different departments and "blind spots". As a result, Chinese consumers have encountered a series of food safety scandals in recent years, including recycled cooking oil, melamine-tainted milk, clenbuterol in pork, and such. These 4 departments are now merged into one as the new regulator (CFDA), and they will be responsible for supervising the entire process of food's production, circulation and consumption, which is expected to make the supervision more effective, professional and transparent. (Source: Xinhua)