On July 27, 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling (Draft for Comment)", which based on the opinions and suggestions collected in the first comment in 2019, SAMR has made amendments and is now solicit opinions again. The deadline is August 26, 2020. Foodmate has compared the newly released "Draft" with the "first Draft" for your reference.

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Highlight 1: Clarify the scope of application of the method

The "Draft" unifies the labeling requirements for prepackaged food, bulk food, edible agricultural products, irradiated food, genetically modified food, special food, imported food, and food additives. Compared with the first version, the requirements for making and selling on the spot and the requirements for small workshops to be implemented with reference to this “Measures” have been deleted. This regulation aggregates the labeling requirements of the above-mentioned types of foods that were originally scattered in various standards and regulations in China. This has an important role in promoting the unified requirements, unified management, and unified supervision of food labeling.


Highlight 2: More content that needs to be labelled clearly

"National Food Safety Standard, General Rules of Prepackaged Food Label" (GB 7718-2011, hereinafter referred to as GB 7718) 4.1.2.1 stipulates that a special name that reflects the true attributes of the food should be clearly labelled in a conspicuous position on the food label, which is only the requirement for the eye-catching labels of the food name. The "Draft” proposes that the production date and shelf date should be labelled prominently and can be printed on the packaging surface with a white background; if laser etching is used to label the production date and shelf date, the text should be clear. The height of the characters of the production date and shelf date shall not be less than 3 mm.

Highlight 3: The labeling requirements for food names, ingredient names, etc. are more stringent

1. Article 14 paragraph 4 of the "Draft" proposes to stipulate that If a food that is a mixture of two or more food raw materials and is uniform in appearance and difficult to separate, the food name should reflect the mixed nature. the name of one or two main ingredients can be used for the food. Article 17 of the "Draft" specifies that the ingredient list of the subpackage food shall indicate the original ingredients of the subpackage food. This is more rigorous than the requirements of current effective "Food Labeling Management Regulations".

2. Added the labelling requirements of iodized salt and reconstituted milk. Article 27 proposes to stipulate that if edible salt is iodized, the word "iodized" shall be labelled on the main display page of the food package and the iodine content shall be labelled; if edible salt is not iodized, it shall be labelled "not iodized". Article 28 proposes to stipulate that if reconstituted milk is used as a raw material to produce liquid milk, the words "reconstituted milk" shall be labelled close to the product name, and the raw materials and proportions of the reconstituted milk shall be truthfully indicated in the product ingredients. The word "reconstituted milk" on the label should be eye-catching, and its font size should not be smaller than that of the product name.

Highlight 4: The labeling of food additives in food ingredients is worthy of attention

Article 17 of the "Draft" proposes to stipulate that "the food additives in the list of ingredients shall be labelled with their specific names. The names of functional categories, such as sweeteners, preservatives, colorants, emulsifiers, thickeners, etc., shall be labelled the specific name after the functional name." It is planned to clarify that the specific name of the food additive in the food ingredient must be labelled. Even if the name of the functional category is labelled, the specific name of the additive must be labelled. Compared with the GB 7718, Excluding the labelling form of the INS code.

It is worth noting that the "Draft" deleted the regulation of "encouraging food producers and operators to carry out clean label actions, and use less or no food additives" in the previous draft version.

Highlight 5: Clarify that unless there are regulations, it is not allowed to label exclusive supply or more suitable for certain special groups of people

Article 12 of the "Draft" proposes to stipulate that without requirements of laws, regulations and food safety standards, no words or patterns shall be used on food labels to express, imply or emphasize that the product is suitable for infants, children, the elderly, pregnant women and other special groups of people.

Highlight 6: The production date and shelf life are more standardized and stricter

Article 15 of the "Draft" proposes to stipulate that if there is no separator between year, month, and date, and the month and date are less than 2 digits, 0 should be added before the number. For example, 3.20 must be marked as 03.20, which is not completely consistent with the GB 7718 labeling format. if the food shelf life does not exceed 72 hours, the production date and shelf life of the food should be labelled to the hour, and the 24-hour system shall be used. For the packaged food with multiple small packages, production The date should be labelled with the date of completion of the outer packaging, and the shelf life should be labelled with the earliest date of the shelf life of a single food. The production date and shelf life of a single food can also be labelled separately. Compared with the GB 7718, it is worth noting that whether it can label the production date of the earliest single piece of food.

Highlight 7: Association standards are expected to "become official"

Article 19 of the "Draft" proposes to stipulate that the food label shall be marked with the product standard code implemented by the enterprise for food production. Product standard code refers to the code of the national food safety standard, local food safety standard, food safety enterprise standard, national food standard, industry food standard, local food standard, association food standard or enterprise food standard implemented by the product. This article clarifies the scope of product standards, including association standards.

Since the Standardization Law of 2018 clarified the legal status of association standards, the disputes about whether association standards can be used as the implementation standards of food on food labels have not stopped. This provision of the "Draft" is the first time that China has clarified that association standards can be used as food standards in the form of regulations. once this clause is issued and implemented, it will play an important role in promoting the development of group standards in China.

Highlight 8: The form of entrusted processing is more unified

Article 16 of the "Draft" proposes to stipulate that "foods entrusted to be produced shall be marked with the names and addresses of the entrusting party and the entrusted party", which is more uniform than the GB 7718 (can only label the name and address of the entrusting unit) and the "Notice on Relevant Issues Concerning the Marking of Product Labelling for Entrusted Processing and Implementation of Production License Management". At the same time, it is also clarified that the entrusted food should be labelled with the production license number of the entrusted food manufacturer.

Highlight 9: "Illegal" cost of unqualified label is higher

The "Draft" expands the scope of Food Safety Law Article 125 (2) for the production and operation of unlabeled prepackaged foods, food additives, or foods and food additives whose labels and instructions do not comply with the provisions of this law, including: Use false, exaggerated, misunderstood words or patterns in food labels; use drug names as food names, or use disease prevention and treatment functions in food labels; falsely label ingredient lists and other mandatory label contents; common foods are labeled with the name of health food or formulas for special medical purposes, or common foods claim to have health functions or clinical effects of formulas for special medical purposes; food additives are used in foods that should be labeled as required but not labeled, or the method of labeling food additives does not comply with relevant laws, regulations and food safety standards; the labeling of foods does not comply with the provisions of this “Measures” and is not defective; imported foods are not labeled with Chinese labels; the health care function claimed on the health food label is inconsistent with the registration or filing content or involves disease prevention and treatment functions. The above violations are also punished in accordance with Article 125 of the Food Safety Law.

Highlight 10: Clarify that imported food labels must not be affixed with Chinese labels on the original foreign labels

Article 11 of the "Draft" proposes to stipulate that the Chinese label of imported food shall be directly affixed, printed or labelled on the smallest sales package of the food during the production process, and the Chinese label shall not be affixed again.

Highlight 11: Encourage food to use low-oil, low-salt and other prompts

Article 31 of the "Draft" proposes to encourage food manufacturers to mark low-oil, low-salt, low-sugar or no-sugar prompts on food labels. Foodmate reminds that the use of these prompts should comply with the conditions specified in the national food safety standards.

Highlight 12: Refine the labeling requirements for special foods

The "Draft" refines the labeling requirements for health foods, formula foods for special medical purposes, and formula foods for infants and young children, which are not in the current version and the previous draft version. In particular, Article 42 proposes to stipulate that infant formula milk powder using base powder as a raw material should be labelled "base powder" in the ingredient list , and the original ingredients of the base powder should be labelled in the parentheses in the descending order of the added amount .

Highlight 13: Further clarify the content of food prohibited labels

The "Draft" intends to add the following provisions: For substances that are not contained or used in food, the words "no addition", "zero addition", "not containing" or similar words shall not be used to emphasize that they are not contained or used; for unused genetically modified foods as raw materials, it is not allowed to introduce food with the words "GMO-free", "Non-GMO" or similar words; it is not allowed to use names that are unethical or violate public order and good customs and registered drug names; it is not allowed to use "specially provided", "specially made", "special needs" and "supervised production" to introduce food.

Summary

This version of the "Draft" deletes the previous version of the labeling regulations on ready-to-sell food, small workshops, and catering food, deletes the relevant regulations on clean labeling, deletes the chapter of obligations in production and operation, and deletes relevant provisions for the transition period of old packaging materials. After the “Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling” is issued, it will be the main management regulation of SAMR on food labeling. Food production and operation enterprises need to combine this approach and GB 7718 to regulate food labeling.

Foodmate reminds, the deadline for soliciting comments on the draft is August 26, 2020 , food production and operation enterprises can submit their opinions to SAMR on the terms of the amendments.


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