Infant Food Brand Gerber Appears on List of Non-Compliant Imported Food Again

Popular infant food brands in China such as Gerber and Heinz have failed customs inspections on several occasions leading to rejection of goods by China General Administration of Customs. Based on China’s importer credit rating system we can expect these enterprises to be subject to increased heightened supervision and increased product testing during customs inspection.

On Dec. 24, 2018, GAC released information of non-compliant imported food of November. 75 batches of food products are involved, and major categories are pastry food (e.g. biscuit), infant food and other processed products imported from 8 countries/regions.

Overview of non-compliance in Nov. 2018

exporting company	rejected food	non-compliant batches	reason for rejection
GERBER PRODUCTS CO.	infant food	44	mismatch of license and commodity & illegal use of Vitamin A and C
«ALMATY PRODUCT» LTD	cookie	16	pass sell-by date
NEUHAUS NV	chocolate	5	labeling
Brouwerij De Bie	beer	3	use acesulfame potassium
WINSIGHT INTERNATIONAL SOLUTION	salad sauce	1	mismatch of license and commodity
pisabol s.r.l bolivia	flavoring	1	substandard
PEZ INTERNATIONAL GMBH	sugar	1	coliform
FAYREFIELD FOODS A/S	lactose	1	ash content
Esmond Natural Inc.	whey protein powder	1	labeling
Brands Collection B.V.	whiskey	1	certificate of origin
TK CORPORATION LTD	grain powder	1	bacteria & mold

Multiple regulatory challenges that Gerber face

Gerber ranks the first in JD.com by sales volume under the category of complementary infant food
Source: JD.com

Gerber, as one of the most popular overseas infant food manufacturer in Chinese market, had its products rejected twice in 2018: in Oct. 25 batches of Gerber infant foods manufactured by BEARHUG GLOBAL INC were banned from getting into China because of non-compliant labeling (refer to China National Food Safety Standard GB 7718 Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Food, and GB 13432 Standard for the Labeling of Prepacked Food for Special Dietary Uses); in Nov. 44 batches did not meet Chinese standards (especially GB 2760 Standard for Food Additives and GB 14880 Standard for Nutritional Fortification Substances).
In fact, over the past 11 months of 2018, infant food was one of the frequently rejected food categories. Apart from Gerber, Heinz and Baby Consultant (Taiwan brand) also have compliance issues.