The subject was first raised in 2002, when the council ordered an ethnic affairs committee to draft national halal regulations, though it has been on and off the legislative programme ever since.
The committee suggested speeding up passage of the legislation in 2012 and 2015, saying that the legislation was "reasonable and necessary" as it relates to "national unity and social stability."
However, a mixed response to the draft this year, especially among scholars who believe that a new halal law would set a precedent for allowing China’s secular government to have authority over religious issues.
Xi Wuyi, a Marxism scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the legislation would "violate the principle of separation of state and religion”.
Yet the issue is widely supported by Chinese Muslim minorities. According to an official from the religious affairs department of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region quoted by Legal Daily, at least 20m Chinese eat halal food, and would benefit from having national legislation in place for halal products.
Wei Dedong, of Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that the best solution was not a national law, but stronger enforcement of present laws on food safety.
Wei also said that a unified standard could be issued by religious authorities, instead of by a national law, which would authorise the secular government to define Islam-related issues.