China Consults on GB Standards for Milk Powder and Five Other National Food Safety Standards

As revealed by the CFSA Notice ^[1] released on April 8, 2020, six national food safety standards are open for public feedback. They are GB 19644 Milk Powder, GB 13102 Concentrated Milk, GB 5009.17 Determination of Total Mercury and Organic-mercury in Food, GB 5009.265 Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Foods, GB 5009.211 Determination of Folic Acid in Foods and a new GB standard, the Determination of Ethoxyquin Residue in Foods.

Any feedback shall be submitted online via CFSA's management system of GB standards ^[2] prior to June 3, 2020. 

Main Revisions

1. GB 19644 Milk Powder (GB 19644-2010 ^[3] vs. Consultation Draft)

• Terminology and Definition

  Expand the scope of “milk powder” and “modified milk powder” from cow and goat milk to the milk from other species, following the revision of the definition of raw milk in GB 19301 Raw Milk.

• Sensory Requirements

Revise the requirements of the milk powder color and testing method. 

• Physicochemical Requirements

a. Change the unit of protein, fat, and moisture from “%” to “g/100g”.

b. Update the testing method of fat to GB 5009.6 Determination of Fat in Foods^[4] and revise the testing method of reconstituted milk acidity to GB 5009.239 Determination of Acidity in Foods^[5].

c. Newly add the physicochemical requirements of yak milk powder, camel milk powder, donkey milk powder, horse milk powder, and the modified milk of the types above.

• Microbial Limit

a. Add the requirement “Pathogen limit shall conform to GB 29921”.

b. Remove the detailed requirements of staphylococcus aureus and salmonella for which have all specified in GB 29921 Pathogen Limit in Prepackaged Foods (Consultation Draft) ^[6] for dairy products.

c. These requirements are also applicable to yak milk powder, camel milk powder, donkey milk powder, horse milk powder, and the modified milk of the types above.

d. Newly add the note “For products that added live bacteria, the number of live bacterial in the final products shall be ≥10⁶ CFU/g”.

• Others

a. Products shall label "dairy powder" or "modified dairy powder."

b. Cow milk powder can label the products as "dairy powder" or "milk powder," while others need to label specific categories such as “goat milk powder” or "goat dairy powder."

2. GB 13102 Concentrated Milk Products (GB 13102-2010 ^[7] vs. consultation draft)

*The name of this standard is revised from "Evaporated Milk, Sweetened Condensed Milk and Formulated Condensed Milk" to "Concentrated Milk Products".

• Scope and Definition

Newly add the category of concentrated milk for industrial use and optimize the definition of all categories.

• Sensory Requirements

Add the sensory requirements of concentrated milk and revise the sensory description of other assessment items.

• Physicochemical Requirements

a. Adjust the requirements of fat, dairy solids, etc. in evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and formulated condensed milk. Newly formulate the physicochemical requirements of concentrated milk.

b. Delete the requirements of saccharose in sweeten condensed milk and formulated sweetened condensed milk products. Delete the acidity requirement of formulated condensed milk.

c. Newly add the indicators for skimmed products and semi-skimmed products.

d. Specify the calculation method of protein content.

• Microbial Limit

Revise the microbial limit as per different sterilization processes instead of different food categories. 

3. GB 5009.17 Determination of Total Mercury and Organic-mercury in Food (GB 5009.17-2014 ^[8] vs. consultation draft)

1. In the first part—the determination of total mercury, newly add two determination methods, “direct sampling mercury analysis method” and “inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry." Rectify some content in the other two methods. 

2. In the second part—the determination of methylmercury, this draft added the chromatogram for inorganic mercury, methylmercury, ethylmercury, etc. in the first determination method and added another determination method “liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry."

4. GB 5009.265 Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Foods (GB 5009.265-2016 ^[9] vs. consultation draft)

1. Adjust the order of two determination methods. 

2. Revise the testing items, sample pretreatment method, conditions in gas chromatography, calculation methods, etc. in the method “gas chromatography-mass spectrometry". For example, this method is now applicable to the determination in infant formula, infant auxiliary food, etc.

5. GB 5009.211 Determination of Folic Acid in Foods (GB 5009.211-2014 ^[10] vs. consultation draft)

1. Add the microplate method to determine the folic acid in food, which is with added folic acid.

2. Add microplate reader into the instrument list.

3. Revise the accuracy of the determination result about nutrient supplements and fortified food.

6. GB XXXX, the Determination of Ethoxyquin Residue in Foods (GB/T 5009.129-2003 vs. consultation draft)

1. This standard is changed from a recommended standard to a mandatory one, mainly applies to the determination of ethoxyquin residue in fruits.

2. Newly add a determination method, "high-performance liquid chromatography."

3. Add the confirmation method for “liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry," etc.

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