The Chinese Ministry of Public Health on Thursday issued new regulations defining more strictly the use and approval of food additives.
”The Regulations on the new food additives” set six new restrictions on the use of food additives, said the department’s website.
The new regulations prohibit the use of food additives to mislead consumers about the content and quality of food or counterfeit food content.
It is also illegal to use food additives to mask the decomposition or poor quality food.
Under the new rules, food producers are required to use only the minimum amount of additives needed and they are forbidden to use those that reduce the nutritional value of foods.
The Department will not approve new food additives that if they are necessary for the production of food and safe for humans in tests conducted by the department.
The Ministry is obliged to conduct a reassessment of the safety of food additives already approved when they need and job security are challenged by new research.
The new regulations came into force Thursday, April 22.
China’s food quality has become a major concern after a series of scandals.
This was particularly the case in 2008, when six babies have died and 300,000 others fell ill after being fed milk powder contaminated with melamine.