Quality management and traceability system for Chinese medicinal materials officially launched

Recently, China's first quality management and traceability system for Chinese medicinal materials, developed with the introduction of modern information technologies such as the Internet, big data and cloud computing, was officially launched in Beijing after appraisal by authoritative experts.

As a major producer and supplier of Chinese medicinal materials in the world, China has long lacked a quality tracking and traceability system, which has led to repeated prohibitions despite repeated efforts against violations such as the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in cultivation, adulteration and fraud as well as dyeing and weight augmentation in processing, and passing off inferior goods as superior ones and depressing grades and prices in circulation. Moreover, it is difficult to obtain evidence and trace the direct responsibility of the perpetrators, which has greatly harmed the physical and mental health of users and, at the same time, has also seriously affected the good reputation of China's Chinese medicinal materials.

In order to ensure the quality and grade of Chinese medicinal materials, the Shaanxi Provincial Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, on the basis of extensive investigation and research, jointly researched and developed the "Quality Management and Traceability System for Chinese Medicinal Materials" with the Institute of Software of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and, led by Lin Huimin, a famous Chinese software research expert and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Chen Shizhong, a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Peking University, together with 12 national ministries and commissions and relevant departments of Shaanxi Province, formed an expert group to conduct review and appraisal. After carefully listening to the situation introduction, on-site demonstrations and argumentation and review, the experts unanimously agreed that this system puts forward a complete and systematic management and traceability solution for quality problems in the production, processing and circulation of Chinese medicinal materials, formulates quality management and traceability standards, conforms to industry norms such as GAP, GMP and GSP for the production of Chinese medicinal materials in China, and can meet whole-process supervision of the industrial chain of Chinese medicinal materials, ensuring that the source can be traced, the destination can be found, the quality can be verified and responsibility can be investigated. In particular, the introduction of modern information technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data and cloud computing has brought this research and development achievement to the domestic advanced level and filled the gap in China's Chinese medicinal materials in whole-process quality tracking and responsibility evidence investigation. The promotion and use of this system will bring about a completely new revolution in standardized supervision and management for the cultivation, production, processing, warehousing, transportation, sales and use of Chinese medicinal materials in China, and has extremely important social value and economic value for centering on improving quality and effectively protecting and developing the traditional Chinese medicine industry.