What is ASQIQ / CIQ for food and agricultural imports?

Question

Accepted Answer

Short Answer: China-Side Quality and Quarantine Oversight - Food, Agricultural and Plant Products Need Health or Phytosanitary Certificates and Customs Inspection Before Export

Direct Answer

For food, agricultural and certain health or plant products, China applies quality and quarantine oversight through ASQIQ - the quality arm of the State Administration for Market Regulation - together with Customs quarantine, historically known as CIQ. Exports of these goods typically require a health certificate, a phytosanitary certificate, or a Customs inspection before the container leaves China, and the destination country then imposes its own food-safety import licence on top. This is a far stricter regime than general merchandise, because edible and plant products are high-risk and the requirements are category-specific down to the individual commodity. If you plan to source food, supplements or agricultural goods, confirm the exact certificate chain and the destination licence before you order, and use an agent experienced in food export who can actually produce the documents. Get it wrong and you risk a container held at both ends.

Food Is Not General Merchandise

Buyers who have imported homeware or electronics smoothly are often blindsided by their first food order. The commercial mechanics look similar - supplier, PI, deposit, container - but the regulatory layer is entirely different and it operates on both sides of the water at once.

The practical consequence is that documentation, not price, becomes the critical path. A container of biscuits with a missing health certificate is a container that does not move.

General goods

Commercial invoice and packing list
Product compliance marks
Customs declaration
Usually no pre-export inspection

Food and agricultural

Health or phytosanitary certificate
Customs quarantine inspection
Registered exporter facility
Destination import licence

Customs quarantine inspection of food cartons at a Chinese port — Edible goods face quarantine inspection before they leave China.

What ASQIQ and Customs Quarantine Cover

The oversight is split between market-regulation quality standards and border quarantine. In day-to-day practice your exporter deals with both through the Customs system, and the outputs are the certificates your buyer's border authority will demand.

Document	What it certifies	Typical commodity
Health certificate	Fit for human consumption	Processed food, beverages
Phytosanitary certificate	Free of listed plant pests	Dried goods, seeds, herbs
Veterinary certificate	Animal-origin safety	Animal by-products
Customs inspection release	Quarantine cleared for export	Most edible categories

The Destination Side Is a Separate Hurdle

Clearing China does not clear your own border. The United States requires FDA prior notice and facility registration for food; the EU operates its own import controls with border control posts for products of animal origin; and most markets require an importer licence for edible goods. Both chains must line up on the same shipment.

2 regimesChina export plus destination importBoth must clear

Facility levelRegistration is often per-factoryNot per-order

Prior noticeUS FDA requirementFiled before arrival

Shelf lifeOften checked at entryRemaining life rules vary

Health and phytosanitary certificates with official stamps — The certificate chain is commodity-specific, not generic.

Where Food Shipments Actually Fail

Exporter is not a registered food facility Trading company cannot issue the certificate.
Certificate names the wrong commodity Border rejects on the description.
No destination import licence Goods land with nobody able to receive them.
Labelling not in destination language Common rejection cause.
Insufficient remaining shelf life Entry refused on arrival.

Sequence the Documents Before You Order

1

Confirm the commodity code

Requirements are commodity-specific.

2

Check the destination import rules

Licence, labelling, shelf life.

3

Verify the exporter's registration

Facility must be eligible to export.

4

Agree who obtains each certificate

In writing, in the contract.

5

Book the Customs inspection early

It sits on the critical path.

6

Match labels to destination law

Language, allergens, nutrition panel.

Food import labelling review at a destination warehouse — Destination labelling and licensing are a separate hurdle.

Case: The Dried Goods Container Held at Both Ends

Buyer: European importer, dried herbal ingredients

The trading company that quoted the goods was not a registered exporter for that commodity, so no phytosanitary certificate could be issued in its name. The container sat in Ningbo while the paperwork was reconstructed through the actual processing facility.

OutcomeWe restructured the export through the registered facility, obtained the correct phytosanitary certificate, and aligned the labelling with EU requirements before sailing. The lesson the buyer took away was to verify export registration before negotiating price.

How RND SOURCING Approaches Food Sourcing

We are candid about this category: food and agricultural export is a specialist chain, and we scope the document path before we quote a product. That means confirming the factory is a registered exporter for the specific commodity, mapping which certificate each border will demand, and checking your destination licence and labelling rules while the order is still an idea. Where a category sits outside our direct experience we say so and bring in an exporter who lives in it, rather than learning on your container. General merchandise forgives improvisation - edible goods do not.

Discuss a food or agricultural sourcing project

RND SOURCING — Yiwu, Zhejiang, China. Written by our sourcing desk from first-hand market work.