On January 19, 2024, China's National Food Safety Standards Review Committee released the "General Rules for Labeling of Prepackaged Food for Food Safety National Standards (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the Draft for Comments), with a deadline for comments set for February 29, 2024.
The draft for comments is the third public solicitation of opinions for GB 7718 "General Rules for Labeling of Prepackaged Food" in 2018 and 2019. The current version is GB 7718-2011, which was released on April 20, 2011, and implemented on April 20, 2012.
ZMUn Compliance Center has compiled the significant changes between the draft for comments and the current version for reference.
Includes "food that is prepackaged or made for sale in measured weight in packaging materials and containers" within the scope of prepackaged food.
Composite ingredients must be separately indicated and cannot be combined with the original ingredients.
The regulations emphasize the situations where certain ingredients are not included or added:
Directly added allergenic substances have changed from recommended labeling to mandatory labeling. Recommended labeling can be used for allergenic substances that may be introduced during the production process.
Imported prepackaged foods should indicate the country (region) of origin.
Goods completely obtained in one country (region) are considered to have that country (region) as the country (region) of origin.
For goods produced in two or more countries (regions), the country (region) where the last substantial transformation is carried out is considered the country (region) of origin.
If the country (region) of bottling or packaging is different from the country (region) of origin, both should be indicated.
The country (region) of origin or the name of the country (region) of origin of the raw materials or ingredients can also be simultaneously indicated.
Food claims are divided into four categories: general claims, health effect claims for food ingredients or components, nutrition claims and claims about the effects of nutrient components, and claims for health food.
General claims mainly include characteristic claims, conditional claims, comparative claims, quantitative claims, and sensory claims.
Health effect claims for food ingredients or components should comply with the requirements of the Food Safety Law and the regulations of relevant departments of the State Council. In the absence of relevant regulations, food producers are not allowed to make health effect claims on their own.
Nutrition claims and claims about the effects of nutrient components should strictly follow GB 28050 and GB 13432.
When making health effect claims for ingredients or components that are both traditional food and traditional Chinese medicinal materials or for ingredients or components with the effect of reducing the risk of disease occurrence, it should comply with the regulations of relevant departments of the State Council.
Claims for health food should comply with the relevant regulations of the State Council.
Food producers can choose whether to use digital labels as label carriers.
When using digital labels, they should comply with the relevant provisions of the standard and ensure that the label information is directly displayed on the first-level page after scanning to obtain information.
At the same time, it should avoid pop-up advertisements and other interference that may hinder consumers from reading food label information.
The content marked through digital labels should comply with the provisions of this standard.
Whether or not digital labels are used, physical labels of food should be marked in accordance with the requirements of this standard.
The minimum character height for date labeling should not be less than 3mm, and the ratio of height to width should not exceed 3:1.
On the basis of the original 1.8mm, two additional requirements for character height have been added: when the maximum surface area of the packaging reaches 150 cm2 and 400 cm2 , the minimum character height should be greater than or equal to 2mm and 2.5mm, respectively.
The changes in GB 7718 not only affect the label management of food production enterprises but also directly relate to consumers' food choices and health safety. Therefore, companies should continuously track the latest developments of this standard and adjust their label identification strategies in a timely manner to comply with the latest regulatory requirements, enhance the market competitiveness of their products, and gain consumer trust.
In addition to the "General Rules for Labeling of Prepackaged Food" (GB 7718), the standards included in the current public solicitation of opinions are as follows:
On the same day, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) also proposed a consultation draft of China’s Food Safety Law, introducing a new requirement for the registration of liquid infant and young children formula (Stage 1-3). Official source: https://www.samr.gov.cn/hd/zjdc/art/2024/art_b143a2ba4ca74088bc8471833bce5063.html
