To review food regulatory updates that happened in 2020, ChemLinked picked out the top 10 most important updates and listed them below. Besides the regular regulatory updates, the influence of Covid-19 pandemic is an influential factor we have to reckon with this year, for it has influenced the importation and supervision measures of imported food and has also affected subsequent economic policies.
According to ChemLinked the Top 10 updates in 2020 are:
1. 2021 Tariff Plan
On Dec. 21, 2020, China Ministry of Finance published the “2021 Tariff Adjustment Plan”. According to the Plan, starting from January 1, 2021, the provisional tariff of some special infant formula (such as infant formula for premature infants) will be reduced from 5% to 0%, and that of whey protein powder and lactoferrin will be lowered from 10% to 0%. Moreover, conventional tariff rates for dairy products from Australia, Costa Rica, Georgia, Switzerland, Peru and South Korea will be further reduced. (Read more)
ChemLinked Interpretation: The release of "2021 Tariff Plan" is regarded as a implementation step of the "Dual Circulation" pattern, a new development pattern raised by President Xi in May, where he talked about gradually form a new development pattern with major domestic circulation as the main part, where domestic and international dual circulation promote each other. In July 2020, President Xi emphasized China’s firm attitude towards opening-up. Even with the pandemic, when there are so many uncertainties, pushing towards a greater opening up of the country will still be the trend. |
2. New Draft of Overseas Food Manufacturer Registration Provisions Includes All Foods
On November 16, 2020, China notified WTO about a new draft of “Administrative Provisions on Registration of Overseas Manufacturers of Imported Foods”. Compared to the 2012 version (currently valid), the new draft of overseas food manufacturer registration provision applies to all foods, excluding food additives and food contact materials. Different measures will be implemented based on the risk level of the food they produce. Foods deemed as high risk will bear more stringent requirements, such as health food, food for special dietary uses, etc. Besides, the annual verification and report mechanism mentioned in the 2019 draft is no longer included in the 2020 draft. (Read more)
ChemLinked Interpretation: Currently, overseas manufacturer registration is only applicable to aquatic products, dairy products, meat, and birds nest. Once the 2020 draft comes into being, since the overseas food manufacturer registration provision applies to all foods, ChemLinked expects the registration requirements for low-risk food will not be hard to follow and the registration will be completed in a faster pace. |
3.Second draft of China Food Labeling Supervision Administrative Measures under Consultation
On Jul. 27, 2020, China SAMR opened the second draft of “Food Labeling Supervision Administrative Measures” for public feedback. Compared with the first draft issued in Nov. 2019, the latest version details the labeling requirements for special food, newly includes the labeling obligation for products using reconstituted milk as raw materials, and clarifies some regulation items. For example, the labeling of infant formula will be subject to a more stringent requirement that all stage 1 products cannot bear either content or function claims on the package, and products targeting babies over 6 months old can only have these claims for those optional ingredients on the non-major display panel.
Moreover, similar to the requirements mentioned in the first draft, imported food shall have Chinese labels, which should be directly stuck, printed, or indicated on the minimum sales unit package. It is not allowed to affix the Chinese label on the foreign one. (Read more)
ChemLinked Interpretation: This draft goes with GAC's broad goal that China’s trade partners and overseas enterprises should bear more responsibility when they are exporting food to China. If this requirement is implemented in the future, foreign manufacturers are likely to incur higher costs during importation. |
4. Second Consultation Draft of GB 28050 General Rules for Nutrition Labeling of Prepackaged Food
On August 31, 2020, NHC opened the second consultation drafts of “GB 28050 General Rules for Nutrition Labeling of Prepackaged Food” for public feedback. Compared to the 2018 draft, the scope of prepackaged food, which can be exempted from nutrition labeling, is revised. For example, the limit of surface area for food exempted from nutrition labeling is increased to 150 cm2 (for the total surface area) or 40 cm2 (for the largest surface area). Furthermore, descriptions like “cal,” “kcal” and “calories” are allowed for the labeling of energy. It is also optional to add the labeling calculated as per serving, involving 19 types of prepackaged foods. (Read more)
ChemLinked Interpretation: Once it is approved, the content of saturated fat (or saturated fatty acid) and sugar labeling will be mandatory and function claims of many nutrients will also be changed. Hence, enterprises should pay more attention to the release of this regulation and prepare in advance. |
5. Special Food Registration On-site Inspection Requirements (Interim)
On November 26, 2020, SAMR released the official version of “Special Food Registration On-site Inspection Requirements (Interim)”, which came into force on the same day. Compared to the 2019 consultation draft, most contents remain the same except for the following four revisions:
Particular requirements for health food were added. E.g. the registration application of health food should be classified into different risk levels based on the specific situations of the products. The inspection form of health foods will be determined based on the risk level classification.
Third-party institutes are not qualified to carry out the on-site inspection.
More notification forms were adapted to inform applicants of the on-site inspection schedule.
Follow-up measures were added after the on-site inspections.
ChemLinked Interpretation: The on-site inspection requirements of special food registration are expected to be stricter in future. During the on-site inspection, which will become a mandatory part of special food registration (infant formula, health food and FSMP), SAMR will examine manufacturers' development and research capability, clinical testing, production, product testing, etc. If required, SAMR will also further examine the production of raw materials, auxiliary material and packaging materials. |
6. Health food regulatory updates
For health foods subjected to the filing system:
Raw material: In Dec. 2020, China released the “Health Food Raw Material Directory — Nutrient Supplement”, which replaced the “Health Food Raw Material Directory (1st Batch) of 2016” and updated reference standards for some raw materials, supplements compound sources for current nutrients, and β-carotene is added as a nutrient for health food filing. (Read more) Moreover, five new functional ingredients were added into the health food raw material positive list in December. The five ingredients are coenzyme Q10, melatonin, fish oil, reishi shell-broken spore powder and spirulina. To health food using the five new functional ingredients as raw material, they can bear the corresponding function claims under the filing mechanism. (Read more)
Function: The function claims for nutrient supplements have been updated too. The new function catalogue released in 2020 added a new nutrient β-carotene and new interpretation on health functions. (Read more)
For health foods subjected to registration system:
At the end of October 2020, China SAMR published three health food-related technical guidelines for testing and assessment. They took effect immediately and replaced partial content of the 2003 Technical Standards (abolished in 2018). They are: Technical Guideline for Toxicological Testing and Assessment of Health Foods and Their Raw Materials (2020); Technical Guideline for Physicochemical and Hygienic Examination and Assessment of Health Food (2020) and Technical Guideline for Safety Testing and Assessment of Bacterial Strains Used in Health Food Raw Materials (2020). (Read more)
Except for toxicological assessment and hygienic examination, the 2003 version included another essential part — Functional Testing and Assessment of Health Food, the replacement of which is still under consultation. In Nov. 2020, China released the consultation draft of function evaluation guideline. The draft of a new regulation, “Ethical Review Guideline”, was released on the same day, providing the reference of conducting human consumption trial. (Read more)
ChemLinked Interpretation: China released quite a number of health food regulations this year. Up until now, besides the function evaluation guideline and the ethical review guideline of health food, the industry also awaits the release of the function claim directory for registered health foods, new dosage forms for filed health food, etc. Once all of these consultation drafts are approved, it will greatly benefit the enterprises for they can apply for product registration or filing. |
7. Dairy product regulatory updates
As revealed by two official notices released this year, China released seven GB (mandatory national standard) consultation drafts for dairy products. They are GB 19644 Milk Powder, GB 13102 Concentrated Milk, GB 25192 Processed Cheese and Cheese Products, GB 25191 Modified Milk, GB 19302 Fermented Milk, GB 11674 Whey Powder and Whey Protein Powder, GB XXXX Determination of Choline in Infant Formula Food and Dairy Products. (Read more at CL notice 1, CL notice 2)
ChemLinked Interpretation: Overall, the release of these new GB standards in future is expected to welcome the industry development of more diversified dairy products and can better supervise the market. For example, GB 19644 has expanded the scope of milk powder and modified milk powder from cow/goat milk powder to yak milk powder, camel milk powder, donkey milk powder, horse milk powder, and the modified milk of the types above. The definition of “cheese product” is also 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. Another good news is that the maximum limits of mold and yeast will be removed from the GB standard for cheese. Undoubtedly it will facilitate the development of the cheese sector as well as its importation. |
8. Promotion Action Plan of Dairy Quality and Safety
China SAMR released a “Promotion Action Plan of Dairy Quality and Safety” on Dec 30, 2020. As a supplement document to “Opinions on Promoting the Revitalization of the Dairy Industry to Guarantee the Quality and Safety of Dairy Products (raised by the State Council in 2018)”, this action plan gave specific instructions for goals, tasks, measures, etc. that needed to be accomplished in the following three years. Key goals by 2023 are:
To optimize the legal system
To improve the supervision capability
To further develop the quality and safety management system of dairy manufacturers and to enhance the proportion of self-established or self-controlled milk source
To strengthen the development and research ability, better the product structure and advance the production technique
To foster consumers’ confidence
ChemLinked Interpretation: As we analyzed from the news, we see there are mainly 5 influences this Plan will bring forth, including wet processing will be a trend in the near future; cheese and butter sectors will continue to grow fast; the recipe registration of infant formula will be stricter, etc. If all these goals specified in this Plan are realized, China’s dairy quality will be significantly improved and undoubtedly, Chinese consumers will be more confident towards domestic products. China’s dairy industry will face a fiercely competitive market in future. |
9. FCM regulatory updates
In 2020, China published two FCM GB standards. The first one is GB 38995 for infant feeding bottles and teats. It is the first mandatory standard in China specifying the technical requirements, corresponding testing methods and labeling items of infant feeding bottles and teats. It will be implemented in Nov. 2021. The other one is GB 4544-2020 for beer bottles, which will be implemented in Aug 2021.
Besides the published standards, China released many consultation drafts of GB standards in 2020, including the standards related to metal materials and articles, paper and paper boards, composite materials and articles, printing ink for food contact materials and articles, and bamboo and wood materials and articles. (Read more at CL notice 1, CL notice 2)
ChemLinked Interpretation: The draft related to the printing ink was published in China for the first time and got lot of attention from home and abroad. According to the draft, printing ink for FCM is classified into direct food contact printing ink and indirect food contact printing ink. The draft of the standard for food contact composite materials and articles is another important draft this year. It is raised to replace “GB 9683-1988 Hygienic Standard for Composite Laminated Food Packaging Bag”. To better satisfy the industry needs, this draft expanded the application scope from composite laminated food packaging bag to many other kinds of food contact composite materials and articles. |
10. Supervision measures over imported food
After the outbreak of Covid-2019, China strengthened the supervision of food safety, including conducting the virus testing on overseas frozen food, suspending the imports from some overseas factories, demanding traceability code, releasing disinfection guidelines, etc. Major events and timeline are listed below:
June
Imported salmon being investigated as fomite in Beijing Covid cluster (Read more)
China GAC implements mandatory coronavirus testing on imported fresh food (Read more)
China raised new supervision measures for imported food. Both fresh food importers in China and exporters in foreign countries shall sign a food safety commitment prior to all trade activities and food enterprises shall also comply with the guideline released by the WHO. It was also said that GAC would suspend the importation accreditation of overseas fresh food enterprises when COVID-19 clusters occur. (Read more)
Clusters of covid-19 outbreaks in overseas food processing plants have prompted China's customs and quarantine bureau (GAC) to issue temporary bans on importing food from these facilities and associated brands. (Read more)
July
Import qualifications of three Ecuadorian aquatic-product manufacturers were suspended due to COVID-19 virus tested positive on the outside package of frozen shrimps. GAC will take more stringent measures, including long-distance video inspection, to regulate the sources of imported frozen food. (Read more)
September
China GAC will suspend import declaration of overseas manufacturers for a period of time if the imported frozen foods or their packages are found to be Covid-19 positive. (Read more)
October
China NHC released 2 technical guides. They are “Technical Guide for COVID-19 Prevention and Control for Cold Chain Food Production and Operation” and “Disinfection Technical Guide for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in the Production and Operation of Cold Chain Food”. (Read more)
November
Beijing demands mandatory traceability data of imported frozen meat and aquatic products. (Read more)
ChemLinked Interpretation: Since the pandemic is going on, overseas enterprises still need to keep an eye on the staff and food safety during production. |
For a deeper dive into the regulatory reforms that affected China's food sector in 2020, be sure to check out our annual webinar: A Look back at 2020 with ChemLinked: Food Regulation Updates.
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