Reasons for Reverse Flow of Expired Foods and Discussions on Solutions

Li SHEN，Jiaming RUI

School of Logistics，Beijing Wuzi University，Beijing 101149，China

With constant progress of society and economy，dietary culture is becoming more and more diverse，and food hygiene and safety become hot issues．However，the public usually focus on food additives and pesticide residues，but neglect food safety resulted from reverse flow of expired foods．Since there is no great change in appearance of most expired foods，food production enterprises and distributors jointly change production date of foods that is expired or to be expired，then continue to sell such foods．Some enterprises open packed expired foods and sell them as bulk foods．Some food production and processing enterprises even reprocess foods with expired foods as raw materials．There are many typical cases such as tainted steamed buns，Guanshengyuan expired moon cake filling，and Bright Dairy reprocessing expired dairy products for resale［1］．Thus，recovery processing of expired foods is an important part of food safety，and it is of great significance to strengthen supervision over recovery processing of expired foods and prevent reverse flow of expired foods．

1 Analysis on current situations of recovery processing of expired foods in China

At present，recovery processing of expired foods in China mainly includes two modes［2］．

1．1 Food sellers sending expired foods back to production enterprises for processingProduction enterprises take different methods for recovery processing of expired foods．Some enterprises have their own food recovery mechanism and destruction equipment．These enterprises destruct expired foods in combustion furnace．Some enterprises store expired foods in warehouse and discard them as rubbish．Some enterprises sell expired foods to fertilizer processing factories or feed processing factories at lower price，to reduce losses．Some enterprises distribute expired foods to staff members as welfare．Some enterprises sell expired foods to people specially engaged in recovery of expired foods．Some enterprises even change the production date of expired foods with appearance not changed greatly，and sell them again，or produce foods with expired foods as raw materials．

1．2 Food sellers directly processing expired foodsIn recent years，supermarket has become the most important food sales terminal and supermarket is of representative significance to recovery processing of expired foods．According to report，such supermarkets as Metro，Carre four，Century Mart，and Wal-Mart have perfect expired food destruction system．Under the supervision of supermarket destruction personnel，stall members of related departments put expired foods into the destruction report box．The destruction personnel will mix and crush these expired foods，send them to sanitation department for recovery and harmless treatment．All destruction will be recorded，have statistics and filed，and written off from inventory record．However，strict destruction system inflicts heavy losses on supermarkets．For example，Wal－Mart has 11 stores in Wuhan City，the average daily destruction amount of expired foods exceeds 2 tons，the average annual destruction amount is about1 000 tons，and the loss is greater than 10million yuan．In the face of huge interest，it is a question whether supermarkets strictly implement the expired food destruction system．There are frequent reports about change of labels or sales of expired food in Wal-Mart and Carre four．For small and medium supermarkets，it is more difficult to strictly implement the expired food destruction system and the reverse flow of expired foods is serious．

From analysis on current situations of recovery processing of expired foods in China，it can be known that recovery processing methods of enterprises are varied，recovery processing lacks publicity and transparency，and there are many unreasonable parts in recovery processing of expired foods in existing mode．If directly putting expired foods as rubbish，it will lead to waste and pollute environment．Thus，some enterprises sell expired foods to feed processing factories to reduce economic losses and environmental pollution．Long storage of expired foods may result in putridity and deterioration and generate toxic and harmful substances．Feed processed by untested expired foods may lead to animal catching an illness or residual toxin within the body，consequently harm health of consumers．Besides，ingredients are complex and some ingredients are not suitable for animal，thus processing expired foods into feed will have certain potential safety hazards．

2 Analysis on reasons for reverse flow of expired foods

2．1 Imperfect laws and regulations，and low cost for breaking lawsAt present，expired foods in China are mainly treated by enterprises．There is no special authority to take charge of recovery processing，and there is no uniform regulation on recovery processing methods．There is only requirement for enterprises establishing and strictly implementing expired food recovery processing mechanism．In laws and regulations，the Food Safety Law mentions that production and trading of expired foods are prohibited（Article 28），food traders shall regularly check the food in storage and remove the spoiled or outdated food in a timely manner（Article 40），in violation of law，food producers or traders shall be punished for corresponding amount（Article 85）［3，4］．In the Notice on Prohibiting Using Recycled Foods as Raw Materials in Production and Processing of Foods issued by General Administration of Quality Supervision，Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China（AQSIQ），there are provisions about scope of food recovery，expired food destruction system，and relevant supervision．In the Guiding Opinions of State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Regulating System of Food Certification and Invoice and Stock Bills，it is required to make actual records of expiration，deterioration，putridity，inferior quality of foods．Some local government also has issued local guiding documents on recovery processing of expired foods．The above laws and regulations are too general，and there is no specific provision on which department should take charge，which destruction method should be taken，which department should supervise and manage．Some articles are even just notices or opinions，and do not have legal effect．Such laws and regulations are not guiding and operational．Generally，recovery processing of expired foods in China is chaotic．There is no perfect recovery processing system and clear laws and regulations．As a result，enterprises take their own way to conduct recovery processing of expired foods．In such situation，it is difficult to avoid enterprises from reprocessing expired foods for interest，or selling expired foods at lower price to peddlers or those illegally purchase expired foods，which leads to reverse flow of expired foods．

In addition，too low cost for breaking laws is also an important reason for reverse flow of expired foods．Article 85 of the Food Safety Law stipulates that in violation of the Law，the food producer or trader shall be subject to a fine of2 000－50 000 yuan if the total value of the commodity is less than 10 000 yuan or a fine between 5 and 10 times the total value of the commodity if the total value of the commodity exceeds10 000 yuan；and for the serious cases，be revoked the business license．Since the punishment is light，it is hard to frighten enterprises．In addition toweak supervision，the cost for breaking laws is low．Enterprises will take a risk for interest when they think the benefit from playing tricks is greater than risk．

2．2 Im perfect accountability systemArticles 92 to 94 of the Food Safety Law make clear legal responsibilities of food safety regulatory authorities or institution for those actions in violation of the Law．However，these punishments are light，and the provisions are not definite and fail to play the frightening role．What's more，the power and responsibilities of food safety supervision are not clear and the supervision of recovery processing of expired foods is basically in blind area，thus it is difficult to implement the accountability system．

2．3 Enterprises lacking good faithSince the market is uncertain，it impossible to ensure all foods produced by food enterprises can be sold out before expiration．Therefore，expired foods are products that inevitably exist and enterprises must care about．According to existing legal provisions of China，food enterprises can process expired foods by their own methods，which means recovery processing of expired foods depends on good faith of food production and distribution enterprises．Nevertheless，if destroying expired foods，it will certainly bring huge economic losses to production and operating enterprises．In this situation，some food production and operating enterprises lose good faith．To maximize benefit，they would rather take moral risk，produce＂foods that will not expire forever＂，and give no thought to health and life of consumers．If the problem of lack of good faith is not solved，regulations and systems can only cure the symptoms，not the disease．Therefore，food production and operating enterprises lacking good faith is the root of reverse flow of expired foods．

2．4 Imperfect supervision systemFood safety can not be guaranteed without effective supervision，and the administrative department is the most direct and major supervision body．In China，food safety is mainly supervised by four departments：agricultural department is mainly responsible for primary product production；quality supervision department is mainly responsible for food production and processing；the administration for industry and commerce is mainly responsible for food circulation；food and drug administration mainly takes charge of food and beverage service．Other departments related to supervision of food safety include health，agriculture and animal husbandry，commercial，customs，and environmental departments．China's food safety supervision system adopts section supervision mode all the time．In such mode，each department supervises food safety mainly in accord-ance with laws and regulations of respective department，but will generally go after profits and avoid disadvantages in the process of supervision．Since responsibilities and rights overlap each other and labor division is not clear，the supervision over recovery processing of expired foods is weak．

3 Solutions to reverse flow of expired foods

3．1 Improving legal regulations on processing of expired foodsIt is recommended to formulate independent and perfect＂problem food＂recovery processing laws and regulations．Expired foods are important parts of problem foods．Such laws and regulations should clearly specify processing methods and management system，to realize the objective that recovery processing of food production and operating enterprises have laws to abide by，the supervision of law-enforcing department over recovery processing of expired foods have laws to comply with，and strengthen supervision over expired foods through laws and regulations．In addition，it is required to impose stricter punishment for enterprises producing and selling expired foods in violation of laws and regulations．In South Korea，the Food Sanitation Act stipulates that any person deliberately producing and selling inferior foods shall be sentenced，heavily fined，and prohibited to operate for 10 years．In France，any enterprise selling expired food swill be closed down．China should learn from foreign successful experience，revoke business license of enterprises that produce and sell expired foods，record into good faith file，make it public，and fine heavily and investigate criminal responsibility［5］．

3．2 Making clear responsibility investigation of supervision and law enforcing departmentsAt the same time of giving related departments the supervision and law enforcing rights，it is absolutely necessary to investigate responsibilities．Making clear responsibility investigation of supervision and law enforcing departments is favorable for strictly performing responsibilities，and not breaking laws，and fulfill corresponding responsibilities and obligations．

3．3 Setting up＂Four in One＂supervision mode integrating enterprise self-discipline，market supervision，social monitoring，and information platformFood producing enterprises and distributors shall strictly perform their mutual expired food recovery processing agreement，and establish electronic account for processing of expired foods．Related supervision departments should actively strengthen market patrol，carry out special inspection and food test，to strictly prevent supervision loophole．The State should formulate offence-reporting incentive system and offence-reporter protection system，to encourage the masses and news media to actively report illegal acts of enterprises，so as to supervise and guide enterprises to consciously observe expired food recovery processing and destruction system．On this basis，it is proposed to take advantage of Internet or mobile phone voice transmission technology to setup information platform．Food producing and operating enterprises should transmit data of expired food processing to this information platform；the supervision department issues food test results and food safety supervision information，and guide food producing and operating enterprises to conduct self test，off-shelf，and proper recovery processing of expired foods．This information platform should be open to the news media and the public．Both the news media and the public are allowed to monitor and report illegal acts of food producing and operating enterprises，so as to establish the＂Four in One＂supervision mode integrating enterprise self-discipline，market supervision，social monitoring，and information platform，and prevent reverse flow of expired foods．

3．4 Improving the supervision system for recovery processing of expired foodsOn March 10，2013，the Plan for the Institutional Reform and Functional Transformation of the State Council started the big-ministry reform．In this round of big-ministry reform，the integration of food safety supervision functions is a major part，and its aim is to establish a unified supervision system．At this background，it is recommended to improve expired food recovery processing supervision mechanism through following train of thought（shown in Fig．1）．

Fig．1 Schematic drawing for recovery processing mechanism of expired foods

The food safety committee is directly responsible for management of subordinate supervision department，has authority of supervision and punishment，and can directly issue order to grassroots supervision department．On long terms，China always adopts section supervision mode．In line with current situations of food safety supervision，it is required to adjust this mode to make one department specially supervise the whole process．Nevertheless，it involves too wide fields，so the adjustment can not be finished in one day．On short terms，it is proposed that the administration of industry and commerce，quality inspection and other monitoring departments should supervise expired foods．Each of these departments is at the same level，can share information through the information platform，make clear of respective supervision authorities，and perform its own functions and do not shift responsibilities to others．The media and the public have the right of being in know and monitoring right and jointly monitor and report illegal production and sales of expired foods．Food production and operating enterprises should set up food database and input information of all expired foods into the database．Supervision department shall examine data in the database，check information of expired foods in time，and supervise enterprises to strictly manage expired foods in accordance with regulations．More important，food production and processing enterprises and sellers should not treat expired foods on their own，but send expired foods to a special food recovery department or the third party authorized by the State，to increase efficiency in recovery processing of expired foods，and effectively avoid reverse flow of expired foods．Food recovery department and the third party recovery enterprises shall check the database，feedback treatment of expired foods in time，classify and test expired foods，and recycle expired foods in accordance with their properties，to avoid waste and reduce economic losses to the maximum extent．

［1］DU ZX．Analysis on reclamation and destruction system of expired food［J］．Legal＆Economy，2009（12）：125－126．（in Chinese）．

［2］FANGQA，YAOQH．Constructing centralized handling mechanism for unsafe food，improving comprehensive effectiveness of food circulation safety［J］．Study on China Administration for Industry＆Commerce，2010（10）：32－34．（in Chinese）．

［3］WANG K，NAN Y．A brief discussion on supervision of expired food［J］．China Brand and Anti-counterfeiting，2011（12）：88－89．（in Chinese）．

［4］LIXM，WANG Y．The institutional defect of never expired food and its governance［J］．China Business＆Trade，2012（5）：82．（in Chinese）．

［5］YU ZY，YIN YG．Lessons from food safety management measures of foreign countries［J］．Marketing Research，2011（6）：49－53．（in Chinese）．