Starting next year, China will enforce new import regulations that require all companies exporting food products into China to register with local authorities. The stricter controls will affect tens of thousands of companies in Taiwan. The Food and Drug Administration has set up a website to help Taiwan exporters process applications. Registration is open until Oct. 22, after which applications will have to be submitted individually.

Liao Hui-lin
Food and Drug Administration
Beginning Jan. 1, China is requiring all countries worldwide to conform to its new regulations, which will require registration from all food product companies.

On Wednesday the government received notice from China stating that, starting next year, food products firms will have submit applications to export the products to China. The sudden news has companies scrambling to respond.

Liao Hui-lin
Food and Drug Administration
We will use an interdepartmental notification process, with a single website where companies can fill out the forms. We will have seven follow-up meetings on the issue.

According to 2020 data, Taiwan''s food exports to China for the year totaled NT$32.1 billion.

Already four types of food products had to register with the Chinese government to be allowed into China. Those are meat products, aquaculture products, dairy products and edible bird''s nests.

Fourteen other types of food products including sausage casings, honey and other apicultural products, foods containing eggs, foods made from wheat flour, and edible oils and fats all must go through registration.

To help companies meet the deadline the Taiwanese government has set up a website to submit applications, and is assisting with the packaging of products to be sent to China for inspection. Online registration must be done by Oct. 22, and those who miss the deadline will need to apply later on an individual basis, which could make the process more challenging and delay exports. That means companies hoping to avoid delays only have seven days left to register.

Wu Hsiu-mei
Food and Drug Administration
We send more than NT$30 billion worth of food products to China. Such a high value of exports involves a large number of companies. We estimate there are tens of thousands of companies.

Although Taiwan received China''s notice at the same time as other countries, many have voiced concern that China''s ban on Taiwanese fruit could be extended to other food products in the future.