On July 12, 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the “Reply to Recommendation No. 1866 of the Fourth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress.” It is prohibited to slaughter animals and sell their meat. The main points of the reply from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs are as follows:

“At present, there is no clear breed of meat dogs in our country…”

“The World Organization for Animal Health and most countries do not have relevant regulations or requirements for dog slaughter and quarantine”

“Our country does not have the conditions to issue dog slaughter and quarantine procedures”

“Do not purchase meat that has not been quarantined in accordance with regulations or that fails to pass the quarantine”

Editor’s note: Based on the above response, some animal protection organizations believe that this has made it clear that operating dog meat = illegal. The lawyer pointed out: “The Food Safety Law stipulates that meat that has not been quarantined shall not be sold. Dog meat cannot be quarantined, so it is illegal to handle dog meat!” However, in actual operation, it is not enough for volunteers to crack down on the ban on dog meat restaurants on the front line based on this document. I hope that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will continue to work hard and go one step further and directly and explicitly ban the consumption of dog and cat meat!

On July 9, 2021, Guilin Xiangshan District Market Supervision Administration responded to the volunteer letter and visit document, which clearly stated:

“According to the Agricultural and Sideline Products Catalogue of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, dogs and cats are not food products.”

“The Guilin Municipal Market Supervision Bureau also requested instructions from the Guilin Municipal Government in the form of a written report to clarify the supervision responsibility for the sale and slaughter of cats and dogs in the farmers’ market.”

Editor’s note: This is Guangxi Province. Although it is only a reply from the Municipal Supervision Bureau of a certain municipal district, it is a huge improvement. It recognizes that the concept of “non-food” central ecological civilization construction of dogs and cats is increasingly popular and will definitely promote partners. Animal protection has undergone historic, turning and overall changes.