Innovation in the Veterinary Drug Sampling Inspection System to Accelerate the Improvement of Product Quality

        To ensure the safety of food of animal origin, the Ministry of Agriculture strictly regulates veterinary drug safety, continuously strengthens source control of veterinary drug residues in animal products, and through years of unremitting efforts, the pass rate of veterinary drug sampling inspections has steadily increased. In 2014, 15,125 batches of veterinary drugs were sampled nationwide, with a pass rate reaching 95.3%, an increase of 2.1 percentage points over 2013.

In 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture will adhere to combining regulation with liberalization, continue to innovate the veterinary drug quality supervision and sampling inspection system, and strengthen supervision through “one tightening and one loosening.” “One tightening” means vigorously cracking down on the illegal addition of substances to veterinary drugs, implementing identification sampling and baseline sampling systems; “one loosening” means giving more flexibility to veterinary drug manufacturers with reliable quality, implementing a system of central sampling with no duplicate local sampling. At the start of the new year, the Ministry of Agriculture made veterinary drug quality supervision and sampling inspection the opening measure of its veterinary drug safety supervision work, issued the “2015 Veterinary Drug Quality Supervision and Sampling Inspection Plan,” and highlighted three features in sampling inspection:

First, deepen identification testing and severely crack down on illegal addition violations. Supplementary Inspection Methods for National Veterinary Drug Standards have been successively formulated and issued for 18 drugs including illegally added antibacterial drugs, antipyretic and analgesic drugs, and antiviral drugs. Three general methods for determining the detection of illegally added drugs in veterinary drugs have been researched and established. Products suspected of containing illegally added drugs during sampling or testing are listed for identification testing, and test results serve as the basis for administrative penalties.

Second, implement baseline sampling inspections to strictly control the risk of illegal addition to veterinary drugs. For the first time, special sampling inspections are arranged to systematically and comprehensively monitor the risk of illegal addition in veterinary drugs during the distribution and use stages, so as to truly reflect the quality status of veterinary drugs and accurately analyze the sources of veterinary drug quality and safety risks.

Third, implement differentiated sampling inspections to encourage veterinary drug companies to pay more attention to quality control. This year, for the first time, it is stipulated that for veterinary drug manufacturers that have had a large number of veterinary drug products sampled in the past three years, a high product sampling pass rate (above 98%), and no circumstances warranting heavier penalties for veterinary drugs (Ministry of Agriculture Announcement No. 2071), central sampling shall apply with no duplicate local sampling, avoiding excessive sampling of large-scale, highly reputable veterinary drug manufacturers with guaranteed quality.

Next, the Ministry of Agriculture will resolutely implement the deployment requirements proposed in this year's government work report to “comprehensively address the problem of pesticide and veterinary drug residues and comprehensively raise the quality and safety level of agricultural products and food,” supervise all localities in solidly advancing veterinary drug product quality sampling inspection work, promptly grasp the status of veterinary drug quality risks, promptly issue veterinary drug quality notifications, and promptly adjust regulatory measures, so as to ensure the quality and safety of veterinary drugs and food of animal origin.