How to Label Compound Ingredients in China

1. Definition of compound ingredients

According to GB 7718-2011 National Food Safety Standard General Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods, compound ingredient (excluding compound food additives) refers to a certain ingredient which is compounded by no less than two other ingredients.

2. Labeling requirements

Need to declare all the components/original ingredients of compound ingredients

No need to label the components/original ingredients

Compound ingredients

When a compound ingredient does not have a national/industrial/local standard;
when a compound ingredient added into the food directly has national/industrial/local standard and it constitutes more than 25% of the food,

the common name of components/original ingredients should be presented in brackets after the name of compound ingredients and should be ranked in descending order according to the added amount.

Notes: Ingredients accounting for less than 2% of the food can be exempted from listing in descending order.

Where a compound ingredient added into the food directly has a national/industrial/local standard and it constitutes less than 25% of the food, then it is not necessary to label the components/original ingredients.

Compound ingredients containing food additives

Food additives in the compound ingredients shall be declared if they serve technique functions in the final product.

Recommended labeling forms:

the common name of the food additive should be declared in brackets after the name of the compound ingredients, for example “soybean sauce (containing caramel color)”.

In the case of the compound ingredients constituting less than 25% of the food, if the food additive in the above-mentioned compound ingredients complies with the carry-over principle stated in Standards for Uses of Food Additives (GB 2760) and serves no technological functions in the final product, then the food additive does not need to be labeled.

3. Other special situation

For a compound ingredient required to have its original ingredients declared, how to label it if part of the original ingredients is identical with other ingredients in the food?

It can be labeled in two forms. First, it can list all the ingredients of the compound ingredient in brackets as per the requirements mentioned above. Second, original ingredients can be labeled directly in the ingredient list without indicating the compound ingredient name and the sequence of each ingredient shall be determined according to its total amount in the final product. In both situations, the ingredients should be listed in descending order.