The National Health Commission, in conjunction with the State Administration for Market Regulation, issued 50 national food safety standards and 9 standard amendments today (the 27th). These standards mainly focus on people“s livelihood concerns and the needs of industrial development. The standards are interconnected to jointly manage and control food safety risks.

The newly issued standards include 2 food label standards, 3 special dietary food standards, 4 food product standards, 3 production and operation specification standards, 1 food-related product standard, 8 quality specification standards for food additives and food nutrition fortifiers, 29 inspection method standards, and 9 standard amendments such as “Raw Milk“, “Sterilized Milk“, and “Limits of Contaminants in Foods“.

As of now, China has issued a total of 1,660 national food safety standards, comprising more than 20,000 indicators, covering all more than 340 categories of foods. The four major types of standards in the standard system - general standards, product standards, production and operation process specifications, and inspection methods - are interconnected to jointly manage and control food safety risks, covering the entire chain from farm to table, standardizing each link from process to product, and protecting the general to special populations.

Among them, the two newly issued food label standards comprehensively optimize and upgrade the labeling requirements for food labels. China is the first to promote the application of food digital labels internationally to enhance the reading experience of consumers. To ensure the smooth implementation of the food label standards in the food industry, a two-year transition period is set for both food label standards. The new product standards are closely related to the dairy products, meat products, infant foods, food additives, disinfectants, etc. that consumers consume daily. By clarifying the scope of application and other measures, they further guarantee the food safety, nutrition, and health of consumers. Specifically:

There are four food product standards such as “Fermented Milk“ and three standard amendments such as “Sterilized Milk“. The four food product standards improve the scope of application, term definitions, and limit indicators, better ensuring food safety, adapting to market changes, and promoting the healthy and orderly development of the industry. The three standard amendments also play an important role in perfecting relevant aspects (you can further elaborate on the specific role of the amendments here), thus better adapting to market changes and promoting the healthy and orderly development of the industry.

Three newly formulated production and operation specification standards such as “Hygienic Specifications for the Production of Processed Meat Products“ strengthen the process control of key food categories and pollution factors, filling the gap in the food safety process management of relevant fields.

The “General Principles for Infant Formula Foods for Special Medical Purposes“ improve the requirements for the content of nutritional components and add six major product categories such as fat metabolism disorder formulas and anti-reflux formulas, providing precise nutritional support for infants with special medical conditions and filling the gap in domestic products.

The two standards of “Infant Cereal Supplementary Foods“ and “Infant Canned Supplementary Foods“ expand the product categories, adjust the nutritional component indicators and the energy supply ratio of added sugars, and better meet the nutritional and health needs of infants.

The “Disinfectant“ standard adds the principles and methods of use, clarifies the raw material requirements, and adds the requirements for the surface disinfection of carcasses in the poultry slaughtering process, ensuring the safety of disinfectant use on the premise of ensuring the disinfection effect.

In addition, the release of the quality specification standards for food additives and food nutrition fortifiers further improves the quality and safety requirements of relevant food additives and nutrients. For example, the revision of the “Food Additive - Lutein“ can lead the technological innovation and industrial upgrading of lutein production enterprises and promote the economic growth of the entire industrial chain of lutein and related products.

The 29 newly issued inspection method standards include inspection methods for food additives, nutritional components, contaminants, mycotoxins, food contact materials and products, norovirus, Listeria monocytogenes, etc., as well as the safety evaluation procedures for food-use strains and the counting of coliforms and Escherichia coli.

The inspection method standards are coordinated with standards such as the “Standards for the Use of Food Additives“ (GB 2760), “Limits of Contaminants in Foods“ (GB 2762), “Limits of Pathogenic Bacteria in Prepackaged Foods“ (GB 29921), “General Principles for Infant Formula Foods for Special Medical Purposes“ (GB 25596), and “Fermented Milk“ (GB 19302), as well as announcements of new food raw materials. They expand the detection range, optimize the detection steps, increase the detection means, improve the applicability and operability, and further improve the inspection method standard system, providing scientific support for food safety supervision and management.

Mandatory labeling of allergenic substances

Recommendation to label the “consumption preservation period“

Among the newly issued standards, two new food label standards are closely related to everyone“s daily food purchases. A two-year transition period is set for both standards. First, look at the “National Food Safety Standard - General Rules for the Labels of Prepackaged Foods“. After its implementation, allergenic substances will be mandatorily labeled on food labels, and there will also be important changes in the labeling of dates and other content.

What is prepackaged food?

Prepackaged food refers to food that is pre-packaged or made in packaging materials and containers. Simply put, most of the foods we usually buy, except for fresh produce, etc., are prepackaged foods. The label of prepackaged food is the “identity card“ of the food. In the past, the information that was mandatorily labeled included the food name, ingredient list, net content and specifications, shelf life, etc.

Mandatory labeling of allergenic substance information

Experts say that food labels are regarded as the most effective tool in global food allergy risk management. To ensure the food safety of consumers and minimize the probability of food allergies, after the implementation of the new standard, food labels in China will require the mandatory labeling of allergenic substance information.

When prepackaged food uses eight categories of foods and their products such as gluten-containing grains, crustaceans, fish, eggs, peanuts, soybeans, milk, and nuts as food ingredients, the allergenic substances contained in the food need to be indicated in the ingredient list in a highlighted way such as bold or underlined, or through an allergenic substance prompt below the ingredient list. People with a history of food allergies need to pay special attention to the allergenic substance prompt information on food labels.

Shelf life labeled in the form of expiration date

The new standard also brings many important changes to the labeling of food dates. For example, the new standard requires that the shelf life of prepackaged food be labeled in the form of an expiration date. Consumers no longer need to calculate the shelf life by themselves, and the shelf life information is presented more intuitively. At the same time, it is stipulated that foods with a shelf life of more than six months do not need to label the production date, only the food shelf life and the expiration date of the shelf life.

The new standard is in line with international practices. To avoid food waste, it is stipulated that food producers can voluntarily label the “consumption preservation period“ of prepackaged food according to the food attributes, eating characteristics, etc., as the last consumption date of the food for consumers“ reference.

It should be especially noted that food must be stored according to the storage conditions indicated on the label. Improper storage will shorten the shelf life of food and affect food safety and quality.

Scan the digital label to obtain food information

In addition, the new standard proposes that China is the first to promote the application of food digital labels internationally, and food labels will officially start to be upgraded to digital. Consumers can scan the QR code on the food label through mobile devices such as mobile phones to obtain food label information.

Compared with traditional food labels, digital labels have no limitations on the labeling layout. Consumers can understand food information through various functions such as page zooming, voice reading, and video explanations, thus meeting the needs of different consumers to read food labels, greatly enhancing the experience and convenience of consumers in obtaining food information, and solving problems such as “inability to see clearly“ and “inability to find“ due to small font sizes when some consumers read information.

It is understood that more than 400 prepackaged foods have currently applied digital labels. The release of the new standard will provide a regulatory basis for the comprehensive application of digital labels in the food field. Digital labels will be gradually applied to various food packages, and consumers will experience more convenience of digital labels.

No longer allowed to use terms such as “no addition“ and “zero addition“

Many food enterprises take advantage of consumers“ psychology of pursuing “natural“ and disliking food additives, and use claims such as “no addition“ and “zero addition“ to attract consumers to buy. To avoid misleading consumers with these claims, the new standard for prepackaged food labels clearly states that terms such as “no addition“ and “zero addition“ are no longer allowed to particularly emphasize food ingredients.

“No addition“ and “zero addition“ may mislead consumers

“No addition“ is only a description of the production process and is not completely equivalent to the content of ingredients or components in the final food product.

Taking a certain “fruit juice beverage“ as an example, the label of the饮料 states “no added sucrose“, but in fact, sucrose is just one type in the “sugar“ family, and at the same time, the fruit juice itself contains a large amount of sugar. Therefore, the claim of “no added sucrose“ for such products does not mean that the product does not contain sugar, which is likely to mislead the public.

Some sugary beverages use the claim of “no added sweeteners“ to attract consumers, but this causes consumers to misunderstand that the product does not use food additives.

Some products even claim to not add a single variety of food additive, such as not adding a certain sweetener, but actually use other sweeteners as a substitute, affecting the correct perception of consumers.

Prohibiting prepackaged foods from using “zero addition“ and “no addition“ is to enable consumers to correctly understand food label information, choose foods more scientifically and independently, and avoid consumers blindly focusing on these promotional terms and ignoring the true attributes of products, which may pose potential risks to food safety and health.

Read the ingredient list and nutrition label

Through the ingredient list, consumers can understand each ingredient in the food, including the actual use of food additives, and through the nutrition label, they can fully understand the nutritional information of food.

The nutrients from “1 + 4“ are expanded to “1 + 6“

In addition to the new food label standard, another newly revised “National Food Safety Standard - General Rules for the Nutrition Labels of Prepackaged Foods“ also has many changes, such as expanding the scope of mandatory nutrients and adding prompt messages, etc., to guide the nutritional transformation of the food industry and the healthy consumption of residents“ diets.

The new standard expands the scope of mandatory nutrients from “1 + 4“, that is, energy, protein, probatement, carbohydrate, and sodium, to “1 + 6“. The two added items are sugar and saturated fat (acid), which is convenient for consumers to choose and consume according to their personal needs and control the intake of energy, fat, sugar, etc.

Guide consumers to reduce salt, oil, and sugar

This is because the main nutrition and health problems currently faced by China mainly focus on the high incidence of chronic diseases such as obesity and the increase in mortality caused by chronic diseases. These are the key points and difficulties of public health prevention and control work. Unreasonable diets such as high salt, high fat, and high sugar are risk factors for obesity, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases and tumors. The “Chinese Dietary Reference Intakes“ and the “Chinese Dietary Guidelines“ (either both in italics or both with quotes and capitalized first letters) clearly state that “the energy supply ratio of saturated fatty acids should be controlled below 10%“ and “control the intake of added sugars, not exceeding 50g per day, and preferably controlled below 25g“. To implement the healthy lifestyle of “three reductions“, that is, reducing salt, oil, and sugar, the nutrition label currently requires the mandatory indication of sodium content and fat content. This revision further increases the requirements for saturated fat (acid) and sugar on the original basis, hoping to more comprehensively display food nutrition information and further guide consumers.

Children and adolescents should avoid excessive intake of salt, oil, and sugar

In recent years, the problem of overweight and obesity among Chinese residents has become increasingly prominent, and the overweight and obesity rates among children and adolescents have also been continuously rising. Currently, the overweight rate and obesity rate of children under 6 years old in China are 6.8% and 3.6% respectively, and the overweight rate and obesity rate of children and adolescents aged 6 - 17 are 11.1% and 7.9% respectively. At the same time, the formation of taste during children and adolescents is very important. We should guide children to establish a healthy diet concept from an early age and cultivate a light eating habit. In addition, Article 55 of the “Law of the People“s Republic of China on the Protection of Minors“ clearly requires that precautions should be indicated in a prominent position for foods and supplies used for minors. To implement the “three reductions“ healthy lifestyle and the “Law of the People“s Republic of China on the Protection of Minors“ requirements, and to guide consumers, especially children and adolescents, to pay attention to the total intake of salt, oil, and sugar in the diet, this standard revision requires that prepackaged foods should be labeled with “Children and adolescents should avoid excessive intake of salt, oil, and sugar“, hoping to guide children and adolescents to recognize the dual impact of salt, oil, and sugar on health and also reflecting the concern for the health of this special group.

The nutrition label contains these contents

After the standard revision, the nutrition label mainly includes four parts: the nutrition component table, nutrition claims, nutrition component function claims, and other supplementary information.

The nutrition component table is very important and usually has three columns of data:

The first column of data indicates the types of main nutrients contained in this food.

The second column of data reflects the content of various nutrients in every 100 grams/100 milliliters of food or per serving of food.

The third column of data is the percentage of the nutrient reference value (NRV), reflecting the ratio of the nutrients in this food to the daily requirement of the human body. For example, if the NRV of protein is 14%/100 grams, it means that eating 100 grams of such food can meet 14% of the daily protein requirement.

Among the types of nutrients, according to the latest revised standard, energy, protein, fat, saturated fat (acid), carbohydrate, sugar, and sodium must be labeled. The remaining nutrients such as vitamins and minerals such as calcium and iron are voluntarily labeled by enterprises.

Nutrition claims include two types: content claims and comparative claims:

Content claims: That is, claims about the high or low level of nutrients. For example, for “high calcium biscuits“, when the calcium content is relatively high and meets the specified claim conditions, it can be called “high calcium“. Of course, different foods can make various claims according to the characteristics of nutrient content, such as high protein, rich in dietary fiber, low fat, low sodium, low sugar or sugar-free. Corresponding claims have strict standard regulations.

Comparative claims: As the name implies, they are obtained by comparing the nutrient content with that of similar products. If the content exceeds or is less than 25% or more compared with others, comparative claims can be used. For example, “calcium increased by 30%“ and “salt decreased by 25%“ are both comparative claims.

The nutrition component function claim simply means explaining the nutritional function of a certain nutrient for the human body. For example, the description “Calcium helps make bones and teeth stronger“ that we often see on food packages is a description of the nutritional function of calcium. There are strict standard terms for the claim of the function of each nutrient in the nutrition label standard and cannot be changed casually.

In addition, other supplementary information is added in this standard revision. To increase consumers“ attention to the nutrition label, after enterprises correctly and standardly label nutritional information in the nutrition component table according to the standard regulations, they are allowed to use graphics, text, etc. to supplement and explain the nutrition label. For example, consumers are familiar with using oil and salt to replace fat and sodium, using “calorie“ to replace “kilojoule“, etc., and they can also use the pagoda graphic and core recommendation items of the “Chinese Dietary Guidelines“ to promote a reasonable diet and the “three reductions“.