Although cheese products have a long history of consumption in some parts of China, they have not become a mainstream ingredient for a long time. At present, with the gradual increase in the income level of residents and the continuous enrichment of food varieties, coupled with the influence of western food culture and philosophy, the food habits and preferences of residents are changing. Cheese has been accepted and loved by more and more Chinese people.

To accommodate this development, Chinese cheese-related standards are also being improved. The new national food safety standard for cheese was officially published in 2021. One year later, the national food safety standard for processed cheese was revamped and published, namely the National Food Safety Standard for Processed Cheese and Cheese Products (GB 25192-2022). The standard will be officially implemented on December 30, 2022. Compared with the previous, what are the main changes in the new standard?

1. Modification of standard name and scope

The name of the standard is adjusted from "National Food Safety Standard for Processed Cheese" to "National Food Safety Standard for Processed Cheese and Cheese Products". And the scope of the standard is amended to "This standard applies to processed cheese and cheese products"

2. Revised the terms and definitions

The revised standard refines the classification of processed cheese products and adds the category of "cheese products". The proportion of cheese used as the main raw material for processed cheese is adjusted to >50%; products with 15% to 50% of cheese are classified as cheese products.

The provision of "adding emulsifying salt" has been deleted from the standard. "Drying" is added to the process method.

3. Relaxed some of the indicator requirements

The new standard not only deleted the "physical and chemical indicators" and the limit requirements for yeast, but also relaxed the limit of the total bacterial count,the value of m is changed from 100 to 1000, and M is changed from 1000 to 10000. In addition, it is pointed out in the new standard that the limit requirement of total bacterial count is not applicable to products with active bacteria (aerobic and facultative anaerobic) added.

4. New product marking requirements

The new standard has increased the requirements for product labeling. The cheese proportion, transportation and storage temperature shall be indicated. It shall also indicate whether the product type is processed cheese or cheese product.

Product classification is the biggest change brought by the new standard to the domestic processed cheese industry. The cheese content of the processed cheese products currently on the market is generally not high. The new standard divides the products into processed cheese and cheese products, and defines them separately by cheese content. According to the new standard, the proportion of cheese in "processed cheese" should be greater than 50%, while the cheese content of 15%-50% of the product can only be called cheese products. This will improve the quality of processed cheese and promote the development of the industry.

The new standard puts forward more explicit requirements for labels. Not only the specific category, transportation and storage temperature of the product, but also the proportion of cheese used should be marked. This measure can help consumers quickly identify cheese categories and influence their purchase decisions.