"Gathering Food Safety Guide" Series | "Fresh Light" will be banned

The vegetables that look fresh and lush under the lights of supermarkets and vegetable markets turn out to have "color differences" when you get them home; the brightly colored, appetizing fresh meat turns out to look different under the lights when you leave the vegetable market...Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Quality and Safety of Market Sales of Edible Agricultural Products", which made a clear response to the problem of such "fresh lights" misleading consumers: When selling fresh edible agricultural products, lighting and other facilities that cause obvious changes to the actual color and other sensory properties of the edible agricultural products shall not be used, thereby misleading consumers' sensory perception of the products.

In the store, the operator uses special lamps to make the fresh agricultural products look brighter and more beautiful by adjusting the light color or adding bright red lampshades to the light source. This kind of lamp, which is specially used to enhance the color and brightness of fresh agricultural products, is vividly called "fresh lamp".

"Every time I go to the meat stall in the vegetable market to buy meat, the red light overhead and the cold white light make the meat look fresh, but when I get it home I find the color seems to have changed." Aunt Zhang, who lives in Hepingli, Beijing, said, "Now when I buy meat, I have to pick it up and distinguish the color under normal light and choose carefully." Many consumers said that the red light commonly seen in fresh meat stalls and the white and green lights commonly seen in vegetable and fruit stalls will affect consumers' judgment and increase the difficulty of selection and purchase.

Although the "fresh food lights" make some consumers feel cheated, since the previous laws and regulations did not prohibit the use of "fresh food lights", they often end up with nothing. In addition, not only do merchants not take this seriously, but even some local market supervision departments believe that the key to judging whether consumers are deceived is whether the goods sold by the merchants are qualified. If the quality of the goods is qualified and the "fresh food lights" are just used as a marketing tool, this situation is not illegal or against regulations.

"From farmland to table", the quality and safety of edible agricultural products are closely related to the physical health and life safety of the public. In recent years, the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products" (hereinafter referred to as the "Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Law") have been revised one after another, making new provisions on food safety and agricultural product quality and safety. In particular, the newly revised Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Law proposes to establish and implement a system of agricultural product commitment to meet standards and certificates, and it is urgent to clarify the corresponding connection requirements from the market sales of edible agricultural products. "At the same time, new models of edible agricultural product market sales have emerged, and the problem that the existing regulatory methods and work measures are not in line with the industry development requirements and regulatory needs is becoming increasingly obvious. It is necessary to revise the methods in a timely manner." A relevant person in charge of the State Administration for Market Regulation said.

The ban on "fresh food lights" has become a prominent highlight of the revision of the Measures. The Measures have increased the requirements for the installation and use of lighting and other facilities in sales venues, and clearly stated that "lighting and other facilities that cause obvious changes to the true color and other sensory properties of edible agricultural products and mislead consumers' sensory perception of the goods shall not be used." The ban on "fresh food lights" is not only an important legal correction, but also a necessary system plugging loopholes.

In addition, the measures also strengthen the food safety responsibilities of market operators and sellers, stipulating that market operators shall fulfill management obligations such as registration and filing of sellers entering the market, signing of agreements, entry inspections, and that sellers shall fulfill principal responsibilities such as purchase inspections, regular inspections, and labeling of information; it clarifies the case reporting and transfer system between local market supervision departments and agricultural and rural departments, and specifies specific reporting circumstances.

In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law on Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products, the Measures will list the certificate of commitment to meet standards as one of the valid credentials for the inspection of edible agricultural products, and encourage priority purchase of edible agricultural products with certificates; at the same time, it clearly states that on the basis of strictly implementing food safety standards, edible agricultural product sales companies are encouraged to promote the high-quality development of edible agricultural products through the application of recommended national standards, industry standards and group standards.

According to relevant officials of the State Administration for Market Regulation, the measures will come into effect on December 1, 2023. Industry insiders believe that a five-month transition period has been set before the implementation of the new measures, and relevant departments should increase publicity efforts to guide operators to realize the harmfulness and illegality of "fresh food lights" and gradually abandon this kind of "beautification artifact". After the implementation of the new measures, supervision and law enforcement should be strengthened, the use of "fresh food lights" should be strictly prohibited, normal market order should be maintained, and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers should be protected.