At the beginning of this year, the center made a decision to reform and improve the food and drug supervision system. What kind of food situation is my country facing at present, how is the reform progress, and how to improve my country's food problems? The reporter interviewed Zhang Yong, director of the State Food and Drug Administration.

my country has entered a period of high incidence of food and drug risks

Recently, the British Economist Intelligence Unit and the US DuPont have released the national food index rankings respectively, and China ranks 42nd and 39th respectively in the two lists, which has caused the society to worry about the current food situation in my country. hot discussion.

Zhang Yong believes that the investigations and opinions of various research institutions can only be used as a reference, and cannot affect our research and implementation of policy measures that are in line with the reality based on the wishes of the domestic people. However, this ranking also has some inspiration: the top 1/4 of the countries are all developed countries, indicating that the food and drug situation is closely related to the economic and social development of a country, which is a more rational view of my country's food and drug situation. A fuller understanding of the arduousness of my country's food and drug supervision work provides a perspective.

Zhang Yong introduced that from the perspective of international experience, in the early stage of the rapid development of the market economy, due to the imperfect restraint mechanism of the market itself and the imperfect business integrity system that meets the needs of the market economy, there will generally be a prominent period of product quality problems such as food and drugs. my country has entered this high-incidence period and prone period of food and drug risks.

From the perspective of my country's national conditions, the food and drug industry has experienced rapid and extensive growth. At present, the industry threshold is low, the business format is complex, the quality management awareness and ability are generally weak and uneven, and the external market adjustment mechanism that relies on reputation and brand to achieve healthy development is also Not sound yet. At the same time, there are contradictions between small farmers, scattered operations and industrialized intensive production of raw materials, and contradictions between high dependence on production and sales, large circulation, and large division of labor risks.

Especially since this year, the food and drug regulatory authorities have ushered in a special period of walking on thin ice. The reform of the regulatory system has been rolled out at all levels, and the transitional period of reform has brought great challenges to the continuity and stability of regulation. Faced with pressure and challenges, the food and drug regulatory authorities have focused on reform and supervision on the one hand, and intensively carried out a series of in-depth rectification actions, accelerated the pace of establishing a strict regulatory system, and effectively curbed various potential risks.

At present, the people still have many dissatisfaction with food and drugs, and some of them have strong reactions. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that my country's food and drug foundation is not yet solid, and even some areas and links are still relatively prominent; To achieve information symmetry, some cases in the information society are often regarded as overall problems, affecting the consumer confidence of the people. However, the food and drug supervision system has always insisted on one point, that it must pay attention to the actual feelings of the people, and take the people's needs and desires for food and medicine as the pressure and motivation for unremitting efforts.

Zhang Yong believes that the key to doing a good job in food and drug work is that the food and drug regulatory authorities must correctly understand and take responsibility for two aspects.

On the one hand, assume the responsibility of strict supervision and accelerate the improvement of the level of food and drug supervision. In the future, we will focus on the following tasks. First, while carrying out in-depth food and drug rectification and governance, focus on building a strict legal order, focusing on the revision of the Food Law and Drug Administration Law, and strictly normalize supervision. The second is to reform and innovate the review and approval, registration licensing and other systems, increase industry clean-up, save the superior and eliminate the inferior, and comprehensively improve the quality assurance conditions for food and drug producers and operators. The third is to strengthen technical support, improve the inspection and detection and risk monitoring system, and improve the level of risk early warning, hazard control and emergency response. The fourth is to strengthen the scientific dispatch of monitoring resources, law enforcement forces, and the frequency, scope, and density of law enforcement inspections, so as to effectively improve the efficiency of supervision. The fifth is to implement the main responsibility, and effectively transmit the responsibility to the production and operation enterprises through external supervision and internal control. Sixth, strengthen organizational construction and form a high-quality professional and technical team.

On the other hand, it will assume the responsibility of guiding social participation and promoting social co-governance. Strengthening government supervision is the primary condition for safeguarding food and drugs, but it is not a sufficient condition. Only when the government, enterprises, consumers and news media all participate in the governance of food and drugs, and let the legal system, culture, science and technology and other factors play a role, can the stable and sound development of food and drugs be achieved.

Form a unified food and drug supervision system within the year

On March 26 this year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Three Decisions" plan of the State Food and Drug Administration. The former State Food and Drug Administration, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the former Food and Drug Administration immediately initiated the transfer of relevant institutions, personnel and assets. ,Handover. As of the end of May, the functions, personnel and business process specifications of the various departments and bureaus of the General Administration were basically in place, and they began to formally perform their duties. The basic completion of the top-level design at the national level and the correction of the "leader" of the regulatory system have laid a solid foundation for the reform of the regulatory system at all levels.

Since the issuance of the "Guiding Opinions of the State Council on Local Reform and Improvement of the Food and Drug Supervision and Administration System" (Guo Fa [2013] No. 18) on April 10, the reform of the supervision system at the provincial level and below has entered a substantive operation stage. At present, more than 10 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have completed the establishment of provincial institutions.

Zhang Yong said that the goal of this reform, in addition to time requirements and setting up regulatory agencies in a relatively unified model, is to achieve a tangible improvement in regulatory capacity. The relatively centralized and unified supervision system formed after the reform has clear responsibilities and clear subjects, but it is not an easy task to further improve the supervision ability. If you don't grasp it well, there is a risk of "prosperity and harm". Therefore, to do a good job of this reform, the key is to achieve "two in place", one is to understand the current food and drug situation in place, and the other is to implement the center's requirements for this reform in place.

First, the organization and implementation of the reform of the local food and drug supervision system are the local governments at all levels. For this complex reform task, no department has the ability to complete it alone. Only by strengthening the unified organization from the perspective of the overall situation, and giving full play to the role of overall planning and coordinating all parties, can the reform be carried out in a sound and orderly manner and achieve the desired goals.

Second, this reform has a clear timetable requirement. In order to build an integrated, wide-coverage, professional and efficient food and drug supervision system as soon as possible, and also to shorten the transition period of reform, in principle, local reforms should be completed before the end of the year in accordance with the requirements of the State Council.

Third, this reform has clear policy boundaries. In addition to the fact that there can no longer be a variety of institutional settings, the key one is to "ensure that the new institution has sufficient strength and resources to effectively perform its duties." In terms of the establishment of regulatory agencies, it is necessary to truly achieve the end-to-end, and set up food and drug supervision agencies in townships or regions to prevent food and drugs from being lost on the front line.

Fourth, this reform has comprehensive supporting measures. In order to ensure the smooth and orderly implementation of the reform, Document No. 18 stipulates a series of supporting measures that need to be implemented together. Including increasing investment in food and drug supervision and improving the level of scientific supervision; all relevant departments should not only support this reform, but also perform their respective responsibilities well, and form a joint management mechanism.