Food Industry
JunHe’s legal work is attuned to the latest developments, regulatory requirements and enforcement trends in the food industry. As a close observer of business models in consumption and evolving legal and enforcement requirements, JunHe accrues strong expertise across the entire food supply chain, including cross-border trade, regulations on special food, and compliance with efficacy claims.
Our core legal services in the food industry include:
Full Industry Chain Compliance: Our work covers the entire industry chain, from the cultivation and breeding of plants and animals, food production and processing, to packaging, warehousing, logistics and commercialization. We provide compliance consulting and services for food safety risk prevention, production system certification, imported food label reviews, supply chain compliance, and distribution and promotion compliance.
Specialized Food Regulations: We provide services for the registration and filing of health foods and infant formula as well as compliance for foods with special medical purposes, and special full-nutrition formula foods. This includes raw material approval, standards for food and packaging materials, and label compliance support.
Investment and M&A: We assist with investment and M&A across the entire food industry chain including domestic and overseas listings, transaction tax optimization, cross-border investment structure design and antitrust review.
Cross-Border Ecosystems: We handle compliance for bonded food production, cross-border e-commerce import and export, overseas brand operations in China, Chinese brand expansion abroad, import and export control, the control of parallel imports and counterfeits, label reviews and supply chain compliance.
Production Compliance and ESG: We consult on food production and packaging compliance, and supply chain ESG audits. We also assist enterprises in building carbon footprint tracking systems and green supply chain management solutions.
Dispute Resolution: We represent clients in food safety cases, civil compensation litigation for food safety and cross-border trade arbitration. We handle class action lawsuits, respond to administrative investigations and formulate crisis public relations strategies.
JunHe has a service philosophy of 'Professionalism + Rigor' and help clients achieve a win-win result made up of legal compliance and commercial value within the policy framework. We promote the development of China's food and cosmetics industry towards standardization, internationalization and sustainability.
Recent Representative Cases
Long-Term Legal Counsel for Tsingtao Brewery Group
JunHe has been the long-term legal counsel for Tsingtao Brewery Group. We have provided legal opinions on group structure adjustments, corporate governance, state-owned asset supervision, supply chain finance, and fund establishment, as well as reviewing and amending contracts and regulations. With the client's overseas expansion in recent years, we have advised on import and export trade compliance, customs and trade control and supply chain ESG compliance. We have reviewed and amended import and export trade contracts, assisted in formulating trade compliance guidelines, and provided professional legal training for the group.
Listing of Auntie Shanghai on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
Auntea Jenny (Shanghai) Industrial Co., Ltd. (Auntea Jenny) was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (the Listing). This public offering witnessed a 3,616 times oversubscription, reflecting investors’ recognition of its commercial value.
Listing of Domino's China on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
In 2023, DPC Dash Ltd was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and became the first catering company to be listed in Hong Kong. Since 2021, JunHe has acted as the PRC legal counsel to the company, providing legal services throughout the entire issuance and listing process.
McDonald's China Business Restructuring and Equity Change
In 2017, CITIC Limited, CITIC Capital, and Carlyle Group jointly acquired an 80% equity interest in McDonald's business in mainland China and 100% of its business in Hong Kong. They became the sole franchisee of McDonald's in mainland China and Hong Kong and continued to operate over 2,000 restaurants in these regions. The transaction amount was approximately USD 2 billion and the operating entity was renamed 'Golden Arches'. This transaction received widespread media and public attention, involved the restructuring of dozens of companies and affected tens of thousands of employees and businesses in nearly 20 provinces and cities. JunHe provided comprehensive legal services covering due diligence, domestic restructuring, and antitrust filings, facilitating the smooth completion of the transaction.
In early 2024, the Carlyle Group completed the sale of its 28% stake in the joint venture with McDonald's in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau to McDonald's USA, successfully exiting the investment. McDonald's USA's shareholding in these businesses increased to 48%. This project involved dozens of companies in China that were operating approximately 6,000 restaurants. As a long-term legal service partner of Carlyle and Golden Arches China, JunHe's Shanghai and Hong Kong offices collaborated to provide seamless and efficient cross-jurisdictional legal support. Completing this large-scale M&A transaction in 2023 in a challenging and volatile market environment, and amidst a generally sluggish global and Chinese M&A market, fully demonstrates JunHe's professional strength in complex cross-border M&As.
