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Regulatory Updates

China's New Food Labeling Standard GB 7718-2025 Unveiled: 8 Critical Points to Master
Publication date:2025-05-23

In March 2025, China released several new regulation and national standards related to food labeling. From May 12 to 14, 2025, the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA) hosted a 2.5-day training session to promote and interpret the newly issued national food safety standards.

 

Based on the key points presented during the session on GB 7718-2025 National Food Safety Standard General Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Food, ZMUni Compliance Centre has compiled some high-interest questions and their corresponding answers for your reference.

 

 

1. What is a pre-packaged food?

 

According to GB 7718–2025 , pre-packaged food refers to food that is pre-quantitatively packaged or prepared in packaging materials and containers, with uniform labeling of quantity (such as weight, volume, or length) within a certain limit. It also includes food that is pre-packaged or prepared in packaging materials and containers and sold by measure, which addresses previous issue where products without a net content label were not considered pre-packaged food.

 

  

2. What is the scope of GB 7718–2025?

 

  • Applies to labels on pre-packaged foods provided directly or indirectly to consumers.

  • Labels on the smallest sales units produced by food manufacturers must comply with this standard. Labels on non-sales units are not mandatory.

  

This standard does NOT apply to:

 

  • Labels on packaging used solely for storage and transport purposes.

  • Foods sold unpackaged (loose).

  • Catering and freshly prepared foods made and sold on-site.

  • Fresh agricultural products.

  • Pre-packaged foods sold in smaller quantities after being broken down during sales.

 

  

3. What situations involve pre-packaged foods not directly provided to consumers?

 

  • Pre-packaged foods provided by producers to other food manufacturers or food businesses (including catering) as raw materials, ingredients, or auxiliaries.

  • Pre-packaged foods supplied in bulk or requiring repackaging by other manufacturers or food businesses before reaching consumers.

  • Pre-packaged foods supplied to food businesses that usually need simple heating, plating, cutting, seasoning, or other preparation before serving.

 

  

4. What information must be labeled on pre-packaged foods not directly provided to consumers?

 

Labels on pre-packaged foods not directly provided to consumers must include the food name, specification, net content, production date, expiration date, and storage conditions. Other information not on the label should be provided via digital labels, instructions, contracts, or similar means.

  

 

5. When can ingredients be omitted from the ingredient list?

 

Can be omitted:

 

  • Processing aids, inactivated enzymes, removed ingredients, volatile ingredients, and additives that do not have a functional role in the final product.

  • Food additives in compound ingredients that make up less than 25% of the total food, if they meet the GB 2760-2024 National Food Safety Standard Standard for Uses of Food Additives carry-over principle (i.e., they have no functional effect).

 

Must be listed:

 

  • Directly used food additives (including compound additives).

  • All food additives in compound ingredients that exceed 25% of the total food.

  • All functional food additives in compound ingredients making up less than 25%.

  • Functional food additives within compound ingredients that contain other compound ingredients.

 

Note: Any food additive with a functional role must be labeled under all circumstances. There is no exemption from declaring functional additives.

 

   

6. Is it allowed to indicate the amount of food additives on the label?

 

Claims such as "free of," "does not contain," or "no added" for food additives are not permitted.

However, if a company chooses to disclose that a specific additive has been used—and is willing to indicate its exact amount—this is allowed.

 

 

 

7. Common Questions about Date Labeling:

Question

Answer

If production date and expiration date are labeled, is the shelf life still needed?

No.

Can imported foods label dates without following the year-month-day order?

No.

When only shelf life and expiration date are labeled, do they need to be adjacent?

No, but the guiding terms must be clear.

Can food that has passed its shelf life (best-before date) but not yet reached the consumption limit date (use-by date) still be sold or used?

No. The use-by date only applies to consumer-level consumption safety, not to commercial distribution or use.

Can date labels be added separately as stickers?

No.

 

 

8. For imported food, how should the "correspondence" requirement for labeling be understood?

 

One-to-one correspondence means that all mandatory labeling information appearing in the foreign language must have corresponding Chinese translations. In addition, if certain mandatory information is not shown on the foreign label but required under Chinese laws, regulations, or national food safety standards, it must still be included on the Chinese label. To aid consumer understanding, the Chinese label may use more detailed or reader-friendly expressions.

 

For non-mandatory content, a corresponding relationship should still be maintained. Full translation is not required, but the main meaning of the foreign-language content should be indicated. A summarized Chinese explanation can be provided, such as:

The foreign-language label also includes brand and trademark-related information(“本产品外文标签还包括品牌信息、商标相关信息等内容” in Chinese).

 

 

What we do?

 

At ZMUni, we can assist food enterprises with reviewing pre-packaged food labels and providing customized training on the latest labeling requirements (such as regulatory learning and practical label creation) in China. For any inquiries, please contact info@zmuni.com.

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