2019 AOAC China Analytical Science & Standards Conference Successfully Wraps Up in Shanghai

2019 AOAC China Analytical Science & Standards Conference Successfully Wraps Up in Shanghai

The 2019 AOAC China Analytical Science & Standards Conference was held in Shanghai from May 13 to 15, 2019. Almost 500 elites in the food testing field at home and abroad attended the event. The conference was hosted around various topics, such as the domestic and foreign exchanges and cooperation on food testing technology, the new progress and measures of China’s testing standards and AOAC/ISO/IDF standard projects, the situation of supervision on national food safety sampling inspection, etc., presenting a food standard information feast to the attendees.

On May 14, Dr. Liang Chengzhu, Director of Qingdao Customs Technical Center and President of AOAC China Section, chaired the Opening Ceremony, while Ms. Lu Jiang, Director of China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA), Mr. Zhou Qi, Vice-Chairman of China Inspection and Testing Society (CITS), and the representative of the conference co-organizer respectively delivered opening speeches. In Lu’s speech, she pointed out that we should strengthen the draft and revision of national food safety standards in accordance with the requirements of the most stringent standards, strengthen the cooperative research of national standards and international standards, and strengthen the tracking and evaluation of national food safety standards.

Dr. Liang Chengzhu, Director of Qingdao Customs Technical Center and President of AOAC China Section, chairs the Opening Ceremony

Ms. Lu Jiang, Director of CFSA, delivers an opening speech

Mr. Zhou Qi, Vice-Chairman of CITS, delivers an opening speech

The conference report was co-chaired by Ms. Xiao Jing, Director of Division IV of Food Safety Standards at CFSA, and AOAC President Mr. David B. Schmidt. Mr. Schmidt introduced the development history, scientific research progress and future measures of AOAC, and hoped to carry out the testing technology cooperation on food nutrition and safety and public health with China. Subsequently, Mr. Jiang Yuan, Deputy Director-General of Shanghai Customs, delivered a speech on China’s food import-export inspection and quarantine supervision system, in which he briefed on the current situation of food import-export trade in China, the food import safety supervision system as well as the food export safety supervision system that highlights “one model with ten systems”. He also underscored the food import-export supervision and governance mode that features the “development of diversified cooperation, joint assumption of responsibility and launch of multiple measures”. Mr. Steve Holroyd, Leader of ISO/IDF Methods Standards Steering Group, addressed the conference on the progress of AOAC/ISO/IDF international dairy standards project. Starting with the development process and functions of ISO and IDF, he expounded in detail the standard construction and management of ISO and IDF, cooperation projects and processes between them, and expressed his wish to jointly establish universal standards and share advanced technology. Mr. Darryl Sullivan, Chairman of the AOAC Stakeholder Panel on Infant Formula and Adult Nutritionals (AOAC SPIFAN), introduced the latest progress of the program, and expressed his expectations to the cooperation and exchanges with related Chinese stakeholders.

Xiao Jing, Director of Division IV of Food Safety Standards at CFSA, delivers a speech

AOAC President Mr. David B. Schmidt delivers a speech

Mr. Jiang Yuan, Deputy Director-General of Shanghai Customs, delivers a speech

Mr. Steve Holroyd, Leader of ISO/IDF Methods Standards Steering Group, delivers a speech

Mr. Darryl Sullivan, Chairman of AOAC SPIFAN, delivers a speech

Ms. Xiao Jing delivered a report on the national food safety standard sorting and national standard tracking assessment project. The report summarized the situation of the standard sorting work, and stressed the importance of tracking assessment on food safety standards. Since 2018, the national standard tracking assessment work, led by CITS and extensively participated by all walks of life under the guidance of National Health Commission of China and CFSA, has provided scientific suggestions and vigorous technical support for the establishment of the food safety standard system in China, and achieved significant results. In the future, China will continue its standard revision and establishment work by referring to the results of national standard tracking assessment. National standard tracking assessment will become a long-term task, and more experts and technical institutions will be invited to jointly accomplish this job.

Ms. Gao Han, Head of the Department of Food Safety Sampling Inspection Supervision at State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), delivered a keynote speech on the country's food safety sampling inspection plans and implementation. In the speech, she introduced the Department's organizational structure and main functions, and specified the food safety sampling inspection work in terms of the inspection mode and purpose, legal basis, scope of sampling inspection, supervisory varieties of sampling inspection, form of sampling inspection, plan development, implementation, information release and notification, verification and disposal, statistical analysis and reporting of data, quality control, etc. Gao also briefed on four working principles and four plan features of the Department in 2019, adding that information release this year will be also adjusted according to people’s concerns.

Ms. Gao Han, Head of the Department of Food Safety Sampling Inspection Supervision at SAMR, delivers a speech

Ms. Wang Xiaoyan, Chief of the Food Division at the Department of Standard Technology Management of SAMR, delivered a report on the situation of the country’s standardization system and cooperation on international standards. She briefly introduced the organizational structure and main functions of Standardization Administration of China (SAC), and highlighted the management of China’s national standards, the situation of standardization in the food sector and China’s cooperation with ISO/IEC/ITC. In the end, Ms. Hao Lihua, Associate Research Fellow of the Division of Standards at China Institute of Veterinary Drug Control, introduced the current situation of the residue limit of veterinary drugs as well as testing methods and standards in China. In her report, Gao shared the composition, management, formulation and revision as well as formulation procedures of the veterinary drug residue standard system, the maximum residue limit of veterinary drugs and the testing method of veterinary drug residues, and introduced the update of the maximum residue limit standard for veterinary drugs and the formulation of residue testing method standards in China.

Ms. Wang Xiaoyan, Chief of the Food Division at the Department of Standard Technology Management of SAMR, delivers a speech

Ms. Hao Lihua, Associate Research Fellow of the Division of Standards at China Institute of Veterinary Drug Control, delivers a speech

During the conference, the delegates have extensively taken part in the following forums, including a comparative study of China’s food testing standards and international standards, the progress of the tracking assessment on China’s food safety testing standards, the progress of the research on the standard formulation by AOAC and ISO/IDF, latest microbiological testing technologies, technologies for the intensification of nutrients and the testing of allergens in food, the testing of foods for special medical purpose, the testing of food pollutants, discussion on food safety hot spot technologies, etc.

A group photo of some delegates to the conference

The conference has gathered representatives from various fields, such as food standard systems at home and abroad, inspection and testing, supervision and management, etc. It has strengthened the communication and cooperation between China’s food testing standard organizations and international standardization organizations, providing Chinese and foreign scientific and technological workers with an exchange platform with an international vision.