In the wake of exports of mislabelled products from China which raised international concern about China's food safety standards, measures have been put in place by China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China (AQSIQ) to launch a food industry clean up.

124 feed and food products and raw materials are concerned by a new regulation (document number 2007/70) issued by AQSIQ, which became effective on 15 May 2007.

Henceforward certain goods will be released by the Chinese customs department only upon presentation of an "export/import goods release document", which will be issued after a product has undergone mandatory import and export inspection by the appropriate quarantine agencies at entry/exit ports.

Many food ingredients/additives are concerned by regulation 2007/70. From now, strict surveillance will be implemented for the monitoring of products classified as:

preservatives (tocopherols, sodium nitrate, etc)
sweeteners (sugar, fructose, etc)
colour additives and dyes
emulsifiers (lecithin, etc)
firming agents (calcium chloride, etc)
leavening agents (calcium carbonate, etc)
acidulants (lactic acid, citric acid, sodium carbonate, etc)
anti-caking agents (silicon dioxide, etc)
dough strengtheners (ammonium sulphate, etc)
yeast nutrients (ammonium phosphate, etc)
enzyme preparations (enzymes, rennet, etc)