The Public Interest Litigation Procuratorial Department of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) held a launch meeting on Jan 20 for a campaign on safeguarding food and drug safety through public interest litigation supervision. Zhang Xueqiao, Deputy Prosecutor General of the SPP, addressed the meeting.
The winter campaign for procuratorial public interest litigation on food and drug safety, which was launched by the Public Interest Litigation Procuratorial Department in collaboration with the Procuratorial Technology Information Research Center in November, was discussed at the meeting.
During the winter campaign, procuratorial organs at all levels filed a total of 4,044 public interest litigation cases in the food and drug safety sector. Among them, 3,615 were administrative public interest litigation cases, with eight lawsuits filed, and 429 were civil public interest litigation cases, with punitive damages requested in 310 cases. These efforts have effectively addressed prominent issues of infringement of public interest in the food and drug safety sector.
To enhance supervision efficiency through technological means, a total of 32 legal supervision models in the field of food and drug safety have been implemented nationwide.
Building upon the achievements of the winter campaign, the Public Interest Litigation Procuratorial Department decided to launch the year-long campaign of public interest litigation supervision in the food and drug safety sector.
Zhang highlighted at the meeting that food and drug safety is a fundamental issue concerning people's livelihoods and public safety.
He urged procuratorial organs across the country to strengthen their sense of responsibility, focusing on 10 key areas such as illegal food additives and internet-based food and drug safety problems in new business forms.
By leveraging advanced technologies like big data and artificial intelligence in accordance with local conditions, procuratorial organs should make efforts to address pressing issues that concern the public, he said.
Zhang urged efforts to promote the healthy and regulated development of new industries and business forms, such as live-streaming sales, community group purchases, as well as pre-packaged meals and food delivery services, through handling a series of influential and representative high-quality public interest litigation cases.
