Take home:
- 9 Batches of drinks manufactured by THE COCA-COLA COMPANY failed AQSIQ imported food inspection last month due to excessive use of benzoic acid.
- Excessive use of benzoic acid is the major reason for most carbonated drinks products failing Chinese food standard compliance assessment.
Recently, the AQSIQ released the June 2016 imported food and cosmetics blacklist. 227 Batches of imported food including Coca Cola products failed to comply with relevant standards. The 9 batches of noncompliant Coca Cola company’s products were all imported from the US by a Shenzhen trade company and included a number of products from Coca Cola’s product portfolio including Sunkist®, Coca Cola® and A&W® all of which were rejected by port authorities and returned to the port of origin.
Excessive use of benzoic acid is the number 1 reason for noncompliance amongst carbonated drinks. From January to June, there were a total of 28 batches of noncompliant carbonated drinks products listed in the imported food blacklist. 17 of these batches were due to excessive use of benzoic acid. The key reason may be due to different maximum additive level requirements between The US and China evidenced by the fact that 14 of these 17 batches were imported from The US and the rest were from Japan. Benzoic acid is regarded as GRAS (generally regarded as safe) in US and can be used up to a limit of 1g/kg which also aligns with WHO recommendations. In China the maximum level is 0.2g/kg for carbonated drinks, which is far less than the US standards.
The application of additives is regulated under national standard GB 2760-2014 National Food Safety Standard for Uses of Food Additives. It is also worth noting that the labeling requirement of GB2760-2014 has been effective since June 30, 2016, food manufacturers must now label food additives strictly in accordance with the provisions of GB2760-2014.
Please enter F-lists section of ChemLinked Food Portal to see China AQSIQ Monthly Blacklist of Imported Foods.
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