At a special meeting on November 11, 2026, Chen Wenqing, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, called for a deeper campaign to investigate and punish food safety violations and crimes in accordance with the law.
Chen said authorities had made initial progress under the commission’s guidance on the campaign, including the handling of several major cases. He urged agencies to improve public reporting channels, investigate leads across the food supply chain and strengthen procedures for passing leads between political and legal authorities and other departments.
He also called for closer oversight of priority cases and strict enforcement throughout criminal proceedings, from investigation and arrest through prosecution, trial and sentence enforcement. His proposed next steps included revising food safety laws and regulations, updating the list of substances prohibited from being added to food, and improving coordination between administrative enforcement and criminal justice authorities. The report did not say those proposed changes had been enacted.
