China has been stepping up its efforts to prevent and control the spread of COVID through international products and packaging materials. The Joint COVID Prevention and Control Task Force under China's State Council issued a series of technical guidelines and work plans beginning in the last quarter of 2020, with the purpose of providing guidance to local authorities to prevent and control the spread of COVID throughout the supply chain. As the COVID situation continues to intensify worldwide, these measures are becoming stricter. Initially, these Guidelines were limited to cold-chain foods, then expanded to imported high-risk non-cold-chain containers, and eventually now to all imported goods.

The latest guidelines published on January 25, 2021 are the Technical Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of COVID for the Imported Goods Manufacturing and Operation Entities. These Guidelines apply to manufacturing and operation entities in China that handle imported goods, including food products and food ingredients. Examples of such an entity are traders, importers, distributors, and manufacturers that use imported products for processing and retail sales. Overseas company subsidiaries in China that act as the importers/distributors for their overseas parent companies' products are also considered to be imported goods manufacturing and operation entities.

The January 25 Guidelines aim to put into place a system in China where the presentation of a nucleic acid test report and a disinfection certificate are required for imported goods to pass onto the next entity in each step along the supply chain. It is the primary responsibility of the imported goods manufacturing and operation entities to check and make sure that the report and certificate are in order before the goods in their possession can move further down the supply chain. It is important to note that this guidance does not specify where the nucleic acid testing and preventive disinfection need to take place, even though it states that goods that do not have the negative nucleic acid test reports or preventive disinfection certificates cannot be stored, processed, or sold in China. In practice, the nucleic acid testing and preventive disinfection are mostly done by importers and distributors in the city or province where they are located.

USDEC's understanding is that the series of documents published by the State Council's Joint COVID Prevention and Control Task Force is for domestic businesses in China to follow. Furthermore, the General Administration of Customs China (GACC) has not issued any protocols for nucleic acid testing and disinfection. GACC has only issued Notice 103 on September 11, 2020, regarding the consequences if an overseas manufacturer's cold-chain food or its packaging tested positive for the COVID-19 nucleic acid tests that are conducted randomly by GACC at the port of entry.

In response to these guidelines and other requests, FDA states on their website:

"U.S. exporters of FDA-regulated food products are responsible for following U.S. laws and regulations and following the requirements of the countries to which they export. Recently, some countries have begun to request commitments to provide information that the food is free of the COVID-19 virus and/or has been produced under conditions that prevent contamination by the COVID-19 virus. At this time, there is no evidence of transmission of the COVID-19 virus, a respiratory virus, through food or food packaging, and the FDA does not anticipate that food products would need to be recalled or be withdrawn from the market because of COVID-19.  FDA food safety requirements are robust and ensure that food produced for both domestic consumption and exports are safe. The FDA is also communicating its understanding of the science related to COVID-19 transmission and food safety to foreign governments.

U.S. food exporters need to carefully consider and distinguish official food safety requirements of the importing countries and those conditions being requested in the context of a business-to-business relationship. Differentiating this will assist exporters in understanding their business options. Exporters are welcome to use existing FDA communications posted on its website to assist with their interactions with countries to which they export, if helpful."

If you have any further questions, please contact Eddy Fetzer at efetzer@usdec.org.