The Supreme People's Procuratorate has intensified its focus on food safety through a nationwide campaign aimed at safeguarding food and drug safety, with particular emphasis on the safety of edible agricultural products.
In the first three quarters of 2025, over 2,800 public interest lawsuits concerning the safety of edible agricultural products were filed, accounting for 12.7 percent of all food and drug-related cases. These efforts have effectively protected consumers' food safety.
However, several safety challenges remain, particularly in edible agricultural products.
First, there is a need for stronger governance at the production stage. Prominent issues such as the use of prohibited or restricted drugs, excessive pesticide residues, and the addition of illegal additives continue to undermine the quality of agricultural products and pose serious threats to public health and safety.
Second, safety hazards in the processing stage remain prominent. Some producers and operators fail to strictly comply with relevant national mandatory standards, leading to issues such as raw material contamination, additive abuse, and substandard sanitary conditions during processing, all of which seriously harm food safety and consumer health.
Third, irregularities in the sale of edible agricultural products warrant heightened attention. Inadequate traceability systems and insufficient quality controls create major risks to food safety and damage the public interest.
Moving forward, procuratorial organs will continue to prioritize the safety of edible agricultural products. By leveraging the role of public interest litigation prosecution, they will focus on handling a series of typical and exemplary cases with high quality and efficiency to effectively protect consumers' legitimate rights and interests.
In addition, procuratorial organs remind consumers to purchase edible agricultural products through legitimate channels and handle ingredients properly and scientifically to ensure food safety.
