China Consults on 16 National Food Safety Standards, Involving Dairy Products, Beverage, FCM and Food Contaminant Levels

According to the exposure draft of GB 25192, processed cheese should contain over 50% of cheese, and the products whose cheese proportion ranges from 15% to 50% is classified as cheese products. In regard to the beverage standard, the concentration of lactic acid bacteria should be indicated on the package if they are added in viable type (unsterilized) beverage. The maximum level of impurity elements in a metal base are specified in GB 4806.9 and reusable metal materials are required to conduct migration tests three times following GB 31604.1.

On Aug. 31, 2020, National Food Safety Standard Review Committee opened 16 GB standards for public feedback, and any comments should be sent back prior to Oct. 20, 2020.

These 16 national food safety standards include:

Modified milk & fermented milk

The definition of modified and fermented milk are updated

Because other milk types such as camel milk are also eligible for human consumption, the milk sources will not be limited to cow and goat milk as stipulated in the current version. In this case, the major ingredient for modified milk and fermented milk is changed to “raw milk and/or reconstituted milk”.

Sensory requirements

While testing the sensory indicators of fermented milk, the set-style products can be examined in its original package.

The floating of small amount of fat is permitted in modified milk according to the exposure draft GB 25191.

Physicochemical indexes

The acidity of fermented milk is changed from 70o T to 60 o T in order to maintain a good taste and inhibit microbial growth.

Microorganism standard

The maximum level of pathogen that are introduced in the GB standards for modified milk and fermented milk can be referred in GB 29921 National Food Safety Standard Pathogen Limit in Prepackaged Foods.

Processed cheese and cheese products

The definition of “cheese product” is newly included in GB 25192 that refers to the final products made by heating, mixing and emulsifying (drying) cheese (15%-50%) with other raw and auxiliary materials. Compared with the current version, the minimum proportion of cheese in processed cheese is increased from 15% to 50%.

When it comes to the physicochemical indexes and microorganism standard, the standard of fat and minimum dry matter proportion is deleted and the maximum limits of mould and yeast are removed as well. The pathogen level is also mentioned and those interested should refer to GB 29921.

The GB standard for processed cheese was opened for public feedback in May 2019. Please click here for additional details.

Whey powder and whey protein powder

The application scope of this GB standard is revised and now also applies to whey powder, acid whey powder, and whey protein powder. The physicochemical indexes are newly stipulated for whey powder and acid whey powder. The ash content of whey powder used for infant formula food cannot exceed 3.0g/100g.

Beverage

The exposure draft clarifies that alcohol-free beer does not belong to beverages although its alcohol content may be less than 0.5%. The total plate count for solid beverage is updated and it does not apply to viable type (unsterilized) beverage adding aerobe and facultative anaerobe.

The concentration of lactic acid bacteria should be indicated on the label if they are added in viable type (unsterilized) beverage (the amount should be over 106CFU/g (mL)).

Metal materials and articles for food contact use

Raw materials are subject to more stringent standard so the metal base should not use Plumbum, Cadmium, Arsenic, Mercury, Antimony, Beryllium and Lithium as alloying elements. Additionally, the exposure draft specifies the maximum level of impurity elements in metal base and coating materials.

The migration indicators of impurity elements (As, Cd, Pb, Sb) and alloying elements (Al, Cr, Co, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Sn, Zn) in metal materials are updated. Of note is that metal materials and articles expected to be reusable are required to conduct migration tests three times following GB 31604.1. For stainless steel materials and articles, if the test results for the first time is within the maximum limit and evidence proves the migration amount will not be accelerated in the following tests, then it will pass and is not required to do any follow-up tests. However the product will fail inspection if the migration tests is outside the maximum limit in any of those three tests.