On 10 October 2026, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released the Draft Revision to the PRC Food Safety Law (the Draft) for public comments. The deadline for submitting comments is 10 November 2026.
Background to the Proposed Revision
China’s Food Safety Law was first enacted in 2009 and underwent its first comprehensive revision in 2015, followed by targeted amendments in 2018, 2021 and 2025. The latest amendments, which took effect on 1 December 2025, primarily addressed the bulk road transportation of certain liquid foods and the regulation of liquid infant formula. The newly released Draft represents a proposed second comprehensive revision of the Food Safety Law, extending well beyond the specific issues addressed by the previous amendments.
The proposed overhaul comes amid significant changes in China’s food market and distribution channels. The rapid growth of online food retail, food delivery services, livestreaming commerce and cross-border e-commerce has created compliance challenges that were not fully contemplated by the existing legislation. At the same time, recurring concerns over school meals, supply chain controls, misleading food marketing and inconsistent enforcement have highlighted gaps in the current framework. Against this background, the Draft seeks to clarify responsibilities across the food supply chain, bring emerging business models more firmly within the regulatory framework, and update enforcement tools and penalties.
Key Highlights of the Draft
1. Stronger Corporate Accountability and Supply Chain Controls
The Draft reinforces corporate food safety responsibilities by requiring food businesses to appoint food safety directors and officers, as applicable, and strengthen their training and assessment mechanisms. Food manufacturers would also be required to maintain detailed production records covering product formulations, ingredient use, critical production steps, equipment cleaning and disinfection, and the handling of non-conforming products.
The Draft also introduces more specific requirements for contract manufacturing. Both the commissioning party and the manufacturer would need to hold the relevant licences or complete applicable filings, and report their arrangements to local regulators. In addition, food production groups, retail chains and restaurant chain headquarters would bear management responsibilities for food safety across their subsidiaries, branches and outlets, reinforcing accountability beyond individual operating entities.
2. Tighter Regulation of Online Food Sales and Delivery Platforms
The Draft introduces a dedicated section on online food operations, imposing more detailed obligations on platforms and merchants. Platform operators would be required to conduct substantive checks on merchants’ licences and filings, verify and update such information at least every six months, and retain relevant records for at least two years. They would also need to establish a branch or office in each provincial-level jurisdiction where they conduct online food trading activities.
The Draft further addresses livestreaming commerce by requiring platforms to clarify the food safety responsibilities of livestreaming operators, marketers and related service providers through service agreements and trading rules. Online merchants would be required to display relevant food labels on product detail pages, while online catering providers would need to make their food preparation processes publicly accessible through real-time video.
3. Expanded Responsibilities for Cross-Border E-Commerce and Food Importers
The Draft expressly assigns primary food safety responsibility for products imported through cross-border e-commerce to the relevant e-commerce enterprises. These enterprises would be required to appoint qualified domestic food business operators to assume product recall and advertiser responsibilities. Where an enterprise refuses to carry out a recall, the platform operator would be required to suspend its services and conduct the recall in the first instance, with a right of recourse against the enterprise.
For conventional food imports, the Draft strengthens importers’ obligations to review overseas exporters and manufacturers and ensure compliance with Chinese food safety standards. It also clarifies customs conformity assessment requirements and reinforces the responsibilities of overseas suppliers for product compliance and labelling.
4. Stricter Rules on Food Labelling and Marketing Claims
The Draft strengthens restrictions on food labelling, product descriptions and commercial promotion, expressly prohibiting false or misleading content and claims concerning disease prevention or treatment. Importantly, prepackaged foods would generally be prohibited from being labelled as intended for specific consumer groups, including minors, pregnant women and breastfeeding women, unless expressly permitted by applicable laws, regulations or national food safety standards.
The Draft also introduces additional disclosure requirements for contract-manufactured foods, including identification of both the commissioning party and the manufacturer. More broadly, the proposed rules underscore the importance of consistency between product characteristics, labels and promotional materials, particularly for food and beverage brands making functional or health-related claims.
5. Enhanced Supervision of Special Foods and Infant Products
The Draft expressly includes complementary foods for infants and young children within the special food regulatory framework, alongside health foods, foods for special medical purposes and infant formula products. Manufacturers of infant complementary foods would face additional filing and quality management requirements, covering ingredients, formulations, production processes, labels and food-contact packaging materials.
The Draft also refines the registration and filing framework for health foods. Proposed changes include risk-based on-site inspections, potentially simplified registration reviews for certain imported health foods, and priority review procedures for applications involving proposed new health functions. These changes are particularly relevant to businesses in the infant nutrition, functional food and health food sectors.
6. Greater Use of Digital Monitoring and Regulatory Technology
The Draft proposes that food production and operation enterprises install monitoring equipment at critical food safety risk points and connect real-time video feeds to local market regulators' information systems. Failure to comply could result in corrective orders and, where violations remain unremedied, administrative fines.
Regulators would also be expressly empowered to use technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and video monitoring for remote inspections, ongoing risk monitoring and evidence collection. While these measures may strengthen regulatory oversight, they could also increase technology investment and operational compliance costs for food businesses.
7. Revised Penalties and Greater Personal Liability
The Draft proposes a more differentiated penalty framework, with sanctions reflecting the nature and seriousness of violations. It also introduces specific penalties for newly established obligations, including those relating to online food platforms, digital monitoring, contract manufacturing and food transportation.
Notably, the Draft strengthens personal accountability. Legal representatives, principal officers, food safety directors and other responsible personnel could face fines ranging from one to ten times their income received from the relevant organisation in the preceding year where violations are intentional, particularly serious in nature or result in serious consequences. Serious violations could also trigger public disclosure, inclusion on regulatory credit blacklists and related sanctions, increasing compliance risks for both businesses and their management.
Comment
The Draft signals a shift from regulating food products and individual violations towards closer supervision of how food businesses are organised and managed. Food safety compliance would increasingly extend beyond product testing and manufacturing standards to include corporate governance, outsourcing arrangements, digital sales channels, traceability and the ability to respond promptly to incidents. Although many of the underlying obligations are already reflected in existing regulations or regulatory practice, incorporating them into the Food Safety Law would give them a clearer statutory basis and potentially increase enforcement exposure.
For food and beverage businesses, the Draft calls for a closer review of existing compliance practices, particularly in relation to supply chain management, contract manufacturing, online sales, product labelling and marketing claims, and recall procedures. Businesses should also consider the operational implications of the proposed real-time video monitoring requirements. As the regulatory landscape evolves, early identification of compliance gaps and timely adjustments to business practices will be key to managing regulatory risks.
Background to the Proposed Revision
China’s Food Safety Law was first enacted in 2009 and underwent its first comprehensive revision in 2015, followed by targeted amendments in 2018, 2021 and 2025. The latest amendments, which took effect on 1 December 2025, primarily addressed the bulk road transportation of certain liquid foods and the regulation of liquid infant formula. The newly released Draft represents a proposed second comprehensive revision of the Food Safety Law, extending well beyond the specific issues addressed by the previous amendments.
The proposed overhaul comes amid significant changes in China’s food market and distribution channels. The rapid growth of online food retail, food delivery services, livestreaming commerce and cross-border e-commerce has created compliance challenges that were not fully contemplated by the existing legislation. At the same time, recurring concerns over school meals, supply chain controls, misleading food marketing and inconsistent enforcement have highlighted gaps in the current framework. Against this background, the Draft seeks to clarify responsibilities across the food supply chain, bring emerging business models more firmly within the regulatory framework, and update enforcement tools and penalties.
Key Highlights of the Draft
1. Stronger Corporate Accountability and Supply Chain Controls
The Draft reinforces corporate food safety responsibilities by requiring food businesses to appoint food safety directors and officers, as applicable, and strengthen their training and assessment mechanisms. Food manufacturers would also be required to maintain detailed production records covering product formulations, ingredient use, critical production steps, equipment cleaning and disinfection, and the handling of non-conforming products.
The Draft also introduces more specific requirements for contract manufacturing. Both the commissioning party and the manufacturer would need to hold the relevant licences or complete applicable filings, and report their arrangements to local regulators. In addition, food production groups, retail chains and restaurant chain headquarters would bear management responsibilities for food safety across their subsidiaries, branches and outlets, reinforcing accountability beyond individual operating entities.
2. Tighter Regulation of Online Food Sales and Delivery Platforms
The Draft introduces a dedicated section on online food operations, imposing more detailed obligations on platforms and merchants. Platform operators would be required to conduct substantive checks on merchants’ licences and filings, verify and update such information at least every six months, and retain relevant records for at least two years. They would also need to establish a branch or office in each provincial-level jurisdiction where they conduct online food trading activities.
The Draft further addresses livestreaming commerce by requiring platforms to clarify the food safety responsibilities of livestreaming operators, marketers and related service providers through service agreements and trading rules. Online merchants would be required to display relevant food labels on product detail pages, while online catering providers would need to make their food preparation processes publicly accessible through real-time video.
3. Expanded Responsibilities for Cross-Border E-Commerce and Food Importers
The Draft expressly assigns primary food safety responsibility for products imported through cross-border e-commerce to the relevant e-commerce enterprises. These enterprises would be required to appoint qualified domestic food business operators to assume product recall and advertiser responsibilities. Where an enterprise refuses to carry out a recall, the platform operator would be required to suspend its services and conduct the recall in the first instance, with a right of recourse against the enterprise.
For conventional food imports, the Draft strengthens importers’ obligations to review overseas exporters and manufacturers and ensure compliance with Chinese food safety standards. It also clarifies customs conformity assessment requirements and reinforces the responsibilities of overseas suppliers for product compliance and labelling.
4. Stricter Rules on Food Labelling and Marketing Claims
The Draft strengthens restrictions on food labelling, product descriptions and commercial promotion, expressly prohibiting false or misleading content and claims concerning disease prevention or treatment. Importantly, prepackaged foods would generally be prohibited from being labelled as intended for specific consumer groups, including minors, pregnant women and breastfeeding women, unless expressly permitted by applicable laws, regulations or national food safety standards.
The Draft also introduces additional disclosure requirements for contract-manufactured foods, including identification of both the commissioning party and the manufacturer. More broadly, the proposed rules underscore the importance of consistency between product characteristics, labels and promotional materials, particularly for food and beverage brands making functional or health-related claims.
5. Enhanced Supervision of Special Foods and Infant Products
The Draft expressly includes complementary foods for infants and young children within the special food regulatory framework, alongside health foods, foods for special medical purposes and infant formula products. Manufacturers of infant complementary foods would face additional filing and quality management requirements, covering ingredients, formulations, production processes, labels and food-contact packaging materials.
The Draft also refines the registration and filing framework for health foods. Proposed changes include risk-based on-site inspections, potentially simplified registration reviews for certain imported health foods, and priority review procedures for applications involving proposed new health functions. These changes are particularly relevant to businesses in the infant nutrition, functional food and health food sectors.
6. Greater Use of Digital Monitoring and Regulatory Technology
The Draft proposes that food production and operation enterprises install monitoring equipment at critical food safety risk points and connect real-time video feeds to local market regulators' information systems. Failure to comply could result in corrective orders and, where violations remain unremedied, administrative fines.
Regulators would also be expressly empowered to use technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and video monitoring for remote inspections, ongoing risk monitoring and evidence collection. While these measures may strengthen regulatory oversight, they could also increase technology investment and operational compliance costs for food businesses.
7. Revised Penalties and Greater Personal Liability
The Draft proposes a more differentiated penalty framework, with sanctions reflecting the nature and seriousness of violations. It also introduces specific penalties for newly established obligations, including those relating to online food platforms, digital monitoring, contract manufacturing and food transportation.
Notably, the Draft strengthens personal accountability. Legal representatives, principal officers, food safety directors and other responsible personnel could face fines ranging from one to ten times their income received from the relevant organisation in the preceding year where violations are intentional, particularly serious in nature or result in serious consequences. Serious violations could also trigger public disclosure, inclusion on regulatory credit blacklists and related sanctions, increasing compliance risks for both businesses and their management.
Comment
The Draft signals a shift from regulating food products and individual violations towards closer supervision of how food businesses are organised and managed. Food safety compliance would increasingly extend beyond product testing and manufacturing standards to include corporate governance, outsourcing arrangements, digital sales channels, traceability and the ability to respond promptly to incidents. Although many of the underlying obligations are already reflected in existing regulations or regulatory practice, incorporating them into the Food Safety Law would give them a clearer statutory basis and potentially increase enforcement exposure.
For food and beverage businesses, the Draft calls for a closer review of existing compliance practices, particularly in relation to supply chain management, contract manufacturing, online sales, product labelling and marketing claims, and recall procedures. Businesses should also consider the operational implications of the proposed real-time video monitoring requirements. As the regulatory landscape evolves, early identification of compliance gaps and timely adjustments to business practices will be key to managing regulatory risks.