SPP steps up food and drug safety oversight

China's procuratorial authorities have stepped up supervision and case handling in food and drug safety, filing about 24,000 public interest litigation cases nationwide between January and November 2025, efforts officials say have helped curb related risks.

In January, the Supreme People's Procuratorate launched a nationwide campaign to address food and drug safety problems, targeting key risks including illegal food additives, safety of edible agricultural products, food and drug sales on online platforms, preprepared meals, the unlawful sale of prescription-only and banned drugs, as well as irregular operations at community hospitals and township clinics.

Zhang Xueqiao, deputy procurator-general of the SPP, said the sector faces recurring challenges such as clustered violations, frequent rebounds, long supply chains and cross-regional flows. To address these issues, the SPP coordinated with provincial and municipal procuratorates to identify 348 problems based on local conditions, allowing authorities to focus on the most acute risks and make step-by-step progress.

In Guizhou province, for example, prosecutors used meat safety as an entry point to tackle a number of entrenched issues, including illegal slaughtering of animals. The campaign prompted the provincial government to organize joint enforcement by multiple departments. During the rectification period, the pass rate for veterinary drug residue tests rose to 100 percent, and county-level coverage of harmless disposal of diseased livestock and poultry was achieved.

Community group-buying has expanded rapidly in China, with more than 600 million users and coverage extending to over 80 percent of urban communities and county-level markets. However, Zhang noted that consumer complaints over fresh food quality and difficulties in seeking redress have become prevalent.

Authorities found that some platform operators, as the actual controllers of the sales chain, used standard contracts to shift legal liability to offline suppliers, leaving consumers with limited avenues to protect their rights, Zhang said.

To address widespread problems — such as inadequate supplier vetting, superficial quality testing, substandard warehouse conditions, poor hygiene, improper storage and cold chain failures — the SPP organized a nationwide rectification campaign. More than 31,000 central warehouses, grid warehouses and pickup points were inspected and corrective measures implemented, helping promote more standardized and regulated development of the sector.

Qiu Jinghui, deputy head of the SPP's public interest litigation department, said food and drug safety often spans across production, circulation and sales, with overlapping regulatory responsibilities that can lead to gaps or shifting of blame. In response, procuratorial authorities have used consultations and prosecutorial recommendations to bridge fragmented oversight and reconnect broken regulatory chains.

In Sichuan province, for instance, prosecutors addressed food safety risks in highway service areas by urging cooperation between market regulation and transport authorities. The joint effort identified and rectified 233 issues and established grid-based oversight covering all 251 service areas across the province.

The rapid growth of online business models has also created new regulatory blind spots, making it essential to integrate online and offline oversight and achieve cross-scenario governance, Qiu said.

According to the SPP, with violations in the food and drug sector becoming more covert and digitalized, traditional investigative approaches have proved insufficient. Prosecutorial authorities have therefore increased their use of technology, building a system that combines rapid screening with professional appraisal.

In the first 11 months of 2025, a total of 42 big data models related to food and drug safety were developed and applied more than 3,300 times nationwide. Big data screening provided by the SPP led to 4,482 cases being filed. The use of technology improved the accuracy of clue identification by more than 30 percent and shortened investigation cycles by about 40 percent.

"Initiating litigation is not the goal, but a means to promote lawful regulation," Zhang said, adding that source-based governance is essential to addressing food and drug safety risks. He said procuratorial authorities nationwide are emphasizing early intervention and examining systemic problems behind individual cases.