On August 31, 2020, the National Health Commission issued the "Letter from the Secretariat of the National Food Safety Standards Review Committee on Soliciting Opinions on 16 National Food Safety Standards (Draft for Comments) including GB 11674-XXXX National food safety standard whey powder and whey protein powder (Draft for comments). Foodmate compares and analyses the main changes in draft to effective standard (2010 version) as following:


1. Modify applicable scope

In the draft, the original scope was changed：“demineralized whey powder, non-demineralized whey powder, concentrated whey protein powder, isolated whey protein powder”are replaced by “whey powder, acid whey powder and whey protein powder”. In draft, whey protein powder is divides into whey powder and acid whey powder according to the origin of raw material. Meanwhile, concentrated whey protein powder and isolated whey protein powder are uniformly classified as whey protein powder.

The classification in this draft is based on CXS 289-1995（amendment in 2018）, which also divided whey powder product into whey powder and acid whey powder. Generally, whey powder can be used in different field according the degree of their desalination. The whey powder containing ash no more than 3% can be used for infant and young children formula production. As draft only states that ash content of whey powders used in infant and young children formula should be no more than 3.0g/100g, the enterprises producing infant and young children should confirm that the ingredient purchased for producing product should be whey powder, not acid whey powder. There is no new change of physical and chemical items of whey protein powder. Meanwhile, Review rules of permit for producing of infant and young children milk powder (2013 version) stipulates that ash of whey powder or whey protein powder used in infant formula powder (0-6 months) should be less than 1.5% (whey powder) or 5.5% (whey protein powder). Therefore, the amendment has no effect on the physical and chemical indicators of the whey powder required to produce infant formula. This revision has little impact on the purchase of raw materials for infant formula manufacturers, and only needs to determine the source of whey.

2. Modify the definition of terms

In draft, the definition of demineralized whey powder and non-demineralized are deleted, and acid whey powder is added. The definition of whey is modified: The raw material for whey production is modified to raw milk or dairy products, which broadens the source of whey. It can use curd and acidified whey as raw materials, or use corresponding whey products as raw materials to produce whey powder and acid whey powder.
According to the effective standard, there is no limit to source of whey, which including acid whey. However, whey powder and acid whey powder are equally important categories in draft. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the category of declared products during customs clearance, because the two products have different requirements for protein and ash.

3. Modify physical and chemical indicators

In draft, the physical and chemical indicators for demineralized whey powder and non-demineralized are deleted, and those of whey powder and acid whey powder are added. Currently, only protein and ash determination can be used to distinguish whey powder and acid whey powder according to the draft. However, CXS 289-1995（amendment in 2018）stipulates that pH of whey powder (in 10% solution) should be more than 5.1, while that of acid powder should be less than or equal to 5.1. It is easy to distinguish them without sophisticated tests. Enterprises can pay attention to whether there are any new changes in physical and chemical indicators after the official release of the standard.

4. Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella specific limit requirement changed to refer to GB 29921

At present, the current version of GB 29921 does not have requirements for pathogenic bacteria in dairy products. According to the draft, GB 29921 is being revised and it has been decided to include dairy products in the standard. Therefore, companies should pay attention to the release time of this standard and the revised version of GB 29921 at the same time. only when the effective time of this standard is later than the effective time of the newly revised GB 29921, the limit of pathogenic bacteria can take effect.

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