Request a Demo
Part I Text Analysis
According to Article 92 of the newly revised Food Safety Law of People’s Republic of China, imported food, food additives and food-related products shall comply with Chinese food safety national standards.
The most notable feature of GB24154-2015 is that the rules guiding sports nutrition food in China become mandatory. It is scheduled to come into force on 13th November, 2016. By then all imported sports nutrition food shall be covered by GB24154-2015.
Previous GB/T24154-2009(General Standard for Sports Nutrition Food), QB/T2831-2006 (Integrated Relevant Contents in the Sports Nutrition Food – Energy Supplement), QB/T2832-2006(Sports Nutrition Food – Protein Supplement), QB/T2833-2006(Sports Nutrition Food – Low Energy Food), QB/T2834-2006(Sports Nutrition Food – Edible Creatine), QB/T2895-2007 (Sports Nutrition Food – Nutrients for Active Men) and [2008] No. 18 Public Notice of the Ministry of Health (Relevant Contents in the “Provisions for Use of Food Additives and Food Nutrition Fortification Substances in Sports Nutritional Foods”)are all recommended standards.
This article gives a detailed analysis of the newly revised standard and further details a case study involving incompliance with China’s national standards for sports nutrition food and the subsequent issuance of an administrative penalty to the violating party, to help you better understand the food regulations in China.
Main Amendments
a) Food labeling
It is stipulated that the labeling of sports nutrition food shall be in accordance with GB13432 Labeling of Prepackaged Foods for Particular Nutritional Uses.
“Sports nutrition food” and its specific categorization shall be indicated on the principal display surface.
If the product is not suitable for certain kinds of people, indications shall be given on the label.
Such indication as “This product is not suitable for pregnant and lactating women, children, infants and younger children” shall be indicated on the label for sports nutrition food containing creatine.
b) The categorization of products
In GB 24154-2015, the sports nutrition food is divided into two main categories based on nutrients and ingredients. The food categorized by characteristic nutrients includes energy supplement, low-energy food and protein supplements, while the food classified based on sports items contains products produced respectively for speed and power, endurance, and recovery.
Sports Food Categorized by Nutrient Profile
Energy Supplementation
Low calorie foods
Protein Supplements
Sports Food Categorized by Functionality of Ingredients
Speed
Power
Endurance
Recovery
c) The use of nutrition fortification substances
If one or more of nutrients in Table Iis added in the sports nutrition food, the compound source of the nutrition fortification substances shall be in compliance with the Annex C of GB 14880. The quality specifications shall also comply with corresponding standard and/or regulation.
Table I
Name | Content(per day) |
Vitamin A/ μg | 120-375 |
Vitamin D/ μg | 1.5-10 |
Vitamin E/mgα-TE | 2.1-20 |
Vitamin B1/ mg | 0.2-4 |
Vitamin B2/ mg | 0.2-2 |
Vitamin B6/ mg | 0.2-2 |
Vitamin B12/ μg | 0.4-4 |
Vitamin C/ mg | 15-100 |
Folic acid/μg | 60-260 |
Niacin/ mg | 2.1-20 |
Biotin/ μg | 4.5-50 |
Pantothenic acid/ mg | 0.8-7 |
Calcium/mg | 150-800 |
Sodium/mg | 700-1600 |
Potassium/mg | 300-2000 |
Magnesium/mg | 53-300 |
Iron/mg | 2.3-14 |
Zinc/mg | 1.7-12 |
Selenium/ μg | 7.5-52 |
Copper/mg | 0.3-1.5 |
Iodine/ μg | 22.5-75 |
Manganese/mg | 0.5-2.5 |
Phosphorus/mg | 105-1000 |
Molybdenum/ μg | 80-125 |
Chrome/ μg | 16-32 |
L-carnitine/g | 1-2 |
Taurine/g | 0-0.6 |
New stipulations
a) Sensory requirements
The color, flavor, smell, tissue condition, reconstituability of sports nutrition food shall be in line with the characteristics of the corresponding products. No foreign matters shall be seen using naked eye.
b) Technical requirements for sports foods with specific functionality
The mandatory and the recommended components together with their daily usage for food categorized by sports items as listed in Table II.
Table II
| Table II-1 | |||||
Components | Categorization | ||||
Speed and power | Endurance | Recovery | |||
Mandatory | Creatine | Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 | Peptide | ||
Recommended | Glutamine, Calciumβ-Hydroxy-β-Methyl-Butyrate, Fructose-1,6-Diphosphate | Peptide, L-carnitine, caffeine, Vitamin B6 | Glutamine, L- leucine, L- isoleucine, L- valine | ||
Table II-2 | |||||
Components | Daily usage |
| |||
Caffeine/mg | 20-100 |
| |||
Creatine/g | 1-3 |
| |||
Glutamine/g | 3.5-15.0 |
| |||
Peptide/g | 1-6 |
| |||
Calciumβ-Hydroxy-β-Methyl-Butyrate/g | 1-3 |
| |||
Fructose-1,6-Diphosphate/g ≤ | 0.3 |
| |||
L- leucine/g | 1.5-3 |
| |||
L- isoleucine/g | 0.75-1.5 |
| |||
L- valine/g | 0.75-1.5 |
| |||
c) Contaminants limits
The contaminants limits shall be in compliance with Table III.
Table III
Item | Limit | Inspection method | |
Solid state, semi-solid state, powdery | Liquid state | ||
Lead/(mg/kg) ≤ | 0.5 | 0.05 | GB5009.12 |
Total arsenic(mg/kg) ≤ | 0.5 | 0.2 | GB5009.11 |
d) Fungimycin limits
The fungimycin limits shall be in compliance with Table IV.
Table IV
Item | Limit | Inspection method |
Aflatoxin M1a / (μg/kg) ≤ | 0.5 | GB5413.37 |
Aflatoxin B1b/ (μg/kg) ≤ | 0.5 | GB/T18979 |
a is only applicable to the products of which the main ingredients are dairy and lacto protein. b is only applicable to the products of which the main ingredients are beans and soybean protein. | ||
e) Microorganism limits
The microorganism limits shall be in compliance with Table V.
Table V
Item | Sampling scheme and limits( CFU/g is applied unless otherwise specified) | Inspection method | |||
n | c | m | M | ||
Salmonella | 5 | 0 | 0/25g |
| GB4789.4 |
Staphylococcus aureus | 5 | 2 | 10 | 100 | GB4789.10 Plate counting method |
The analysis and processing of samples shall be in accordance with GB4789.1. | |||||
f) The quality requirement and determination of creatine
As the must-have ingredient of the sports nutrition food that are specially designed for sports of speed and power, the Annex B of GB24154-2015 specifies the quality requirement and determination method of creatine. The creatine monohydrate is determined by the method of high performance liquid chromatography and its mass fraction shall not be lower than 99.97%.
Part II Case Illustration
Chinese food safety national standards should be understood systematically and in their entirety. EU food regulations are built both horizontally and vertically and Chinese food safety national standards could also be comprehended this way. With the growing consciousness of Chinese consumers for physical beauty and health, the sports nutrition food market is on the rise and sales are rocketing. As we can see from many domestic e-commerce platforms, foreign brands such as Met-Rx, GNC, MusclePharm, MuscleTech, DHC,BPI Sport, Konzept, Nature-owned, etc. already have considerable market penetration and consolidated significant market shares. Regulations are now stricter than ever before and the costs of incompliance and association with illegal activities are becoming prohibitively costly, Below is a case handled by FDA of Beijing to illustrate this point.
One well-known company in the sports nutrition food business was fined over 3,000,000 RMB The herbal capsule and solid beverage it sold on a popular e-commerce platform was specially designed for body-building enthusiasts. Some anonymous “professional defective-food buyer” filed a case report to the FDA of Beijing claiming that the food he bought are in conflict with Chinese national standards. He reported that the food named ‘xxx compound herbal extract capsule’ and ‘xxx hydroxy acid compound capsule’ contained caffeine, which should not be an ingredient. He also claimed that the so-called compound amino acid solid beverage has two completely different product names, one of which borders on illegal advertising. As for the first claim made, we can’t see anything that is inappropriate in GB 24154-2015. It might give food manufactures an illusion that caffeine can be added in any sports nutrition food that is categorized by sports items if they just follow the prescriptions of Table IIin this article or Table 3 in GB 24154-2015. According to the Article 5 of GB2760-2014, the application of food additives shall be in compliance with Annex A. Annex A has three tables. Table A.1 lists out the kinds of food additives that can be used in food and the applicable scope together with respective maximum usage or residue limit. You can locate the detailed content by searching “caffeine” or “00.007”, the No. of CNS which means Chinese Numbering System. It states that caffeine could only be added into cola-type carbonated beverage and its maximum usage is 0.15g/kg. The products of capsule the reporter bought clearly did not fall in the category of cola-type carbonated beverage. This constitutes a breach of the national standard.
The second claim has something to do with the labeling rules stipulated in GB7718-2011 and GB 13432-2013. The reporter said that the solid beverage he bought has two names on the label of the food. One is ‘XXX compound amino acid solid beverage’ and the other is ‘high-performance muscle-strengthening powder’. There is no such national food standard in China regulating muscle-strengthening powder，while GB/T 29602-2013 covers solid beverages. The Article4.1.2 of GB7718-2011 stipulates that only one name or an equivalent name shall be used on the condition that national standard, industry standard or provincial standard exists and provides one or several names for a particular kind of food. So the fact that two names exist is in breach of the standard.
The sports nutrition food is a sub category of food for particular nutritional uses as prescribed in GB13432-2013. According to the Article 3 of GB13432-2013, one of the basic requirements for the labeling of food for particular nutritional uses is that the labeling should not relate to functions of preventing and curing diseases. The Article 71 of the newly revised Chinese food safety law also makes this stipulation. The FDA of Beijing ruled it not false propaganda or functional claim in this respect according to the standards.
The third defect the reporter claimed is the solid beverage used wrong measurement units. The measurement unit of energy in the nutrition labeling is kilo-calorie, which according to GB28050-2011 shall be indicated as kJ. The FDA of Beijing ruled it a clear breach of food safety national standard.
For this case, there are two articles stating the legal liabilities for the products which are not in conformity with Chinese food safety national standards in the new Chinese Food Safety Law. Item 2 of Article 125 is designed for labeling breaches while paragraph 2 of Article 124 is made for other breaches. For labeling breaches, if the total value of the defective food is less than 10, 000 RMB, the food manufacturer or the food distributor shall be imposed a fine of 5,000 to 50, 000 RMB. If the total value of the defective food exceeds 10,000 RMB, a fine of 5 times to 10 times of the total value of the defective food will be imposed. For other violations of food safety standards, the food manufacturer or the food distributor shall face a fine of 50,000 to100, 000 RMB if the total value of the defective food is less than10, 000 RMB. If the total value of the defective food exceeds 10,000 RMB, a fine of 10 times to 20 times of the total value of the defective food will be imposed.
The company in this case violated two articles simultaneously, based on which the FDA of Beijing imposed a fine of over 3,000,000 RMB. We will skip the intricate calculation process of total value of the defective food and the application of discretionary power here. Judging from this case, it’s noticeable that foreign brands must abide by both horizontal and vertical standards when entering into Chinese food market. The economic loss in this case could have been avoided if due diligence had been paid.
This article is contributed by Mr. Quinn Hulk.
He is currently working as a Food Law Advisor for Food and Drug Administration of Beijing. He is an expert in Chinese food laws, regulations and national standards. He also demonstrates good understanding and grasp of EU food laws and regulations by leading a team and conducting comparative analysis of China and EU food law.
We provide full-scale global food market entry services (including product registration, ingredient review, regulatory consultation, customized training, market research, branding strategy). Please contact us to discuss how we can help you by 
