Compliance Guide to the New Rules for Prepackaged Food Labeling: Food Names

The National Food Safety Standard General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods (GB 7718-2025) will come into force on March 16, 2027, and the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling (Order No. 100 of the State Administration for Market Regulation) will be implemented simultaneously. The name of a food is the first piece of information by which consumers identify a food, and it is also the primary item in label compliance review. In accordance with the requirements of the new standards and regulations, Foodmate has sorted out the labeling requirements for food names on prepackaged food labels for industry reference.

1. A name reflecting the true attributes of the food shall be labeled

GB 7718-2025 provides that a name reflecting the true attributes of the food shall be labeled in a prominent position on the food label. An attribute name refers to a dedicated name that can reflect the inherent characteristics of the food itself without further explanation or that have already been explained, including descriptions of one or more food-specific characteristics such as the characteristics of the food or its ingredients, process features, and food category.

When national standards, industry standards, local standards, rules issued by relevant departments of the State Council, and announcements related to food naming have stipulated or adopted one or several names for a food, one of them shall be selected, or a name essentially identical to the above names shall be used as the attribute name.

When no name is stipulated or used in national standards, industry standards, local standards, rules issued by relevant departments of the State Council, or announcements related to food naming, a name that fully explains the true attributes of the food and is not likely to mislead or confuse consumers shall be used as the attribute name.

Friendly reminder: food names stipulated in enterprise standards and group standards are not directly used as the basis for attribute names. A name "essentially identical" to a standard name shall be easy to understand and not cause misunderstanding; for example, "hazelnut chocolate" may be called "hazelnut kernel chocolate", and "奶酪" may be called "干酪" (both meaning cheese).

2. Font size, color difference, and layout shall not be used to confuse food attributes

GB 7718-2025 clarifies in its basic requirements that food labels shall be truthful and accurate, and that font size, color difference, layout design and other means shall not be used to mislead consumers into confusing a food, or a certain property of a food, with another product. The core of the judgment lies in whether consumers would be confused about the food attributes.

For example, in "orange juice beverage", the font size of "orange juice" is noticeably larger than that of "beverage", weakening the food category through the difference in font size; in "flavored fermented milk", the font size of "flavored" is smaller than that of "fermented milk"; and in "cocoa butter substitute chocolate", the font size of "cocoa butter substitute" is smaller than that of "chocolate" — all of these constitute violations of the standard.

Friendly reminder: Article 16 of the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling also clearly stipulates that prepackaged food labels shall bear a name reflecting the true attributes of the food and shall not deceive or mislead consumers.

3. Requirements for labeling names such as "newly created names" together with attribute names

On the same display panel as the food attribute name, names such as the food's "newly created name", "peculiar name", "transliterated name", "regional slang name" or "trademark name" may be labeled at the same time. When the above names contain words or terms that are likely to mislead consumers or confuse the food attributes, they shall be labeled in a position adjacent to the attribute name on the same display panel, using a character height no larger than that of the attribute name and the same font and color as the attribute name.

Friendly reminder: where foreign languages, pinyin, or traditional Chinese characters are used together in a food name, their character height shall not exceed the character height of the corresponding standardized simplified Chinese characters.

4. Names of foods of animal origin shall truthfully reflect the raw materials used

To avoid food names deceiving or misleading consumers, the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling emphasizes that food names shall reflect the true attributes of the food and truthfully reflect the raw materials used, and provides that for foods made from raw materials of animal origin, where the name reflects livestock and poultry meat or animal aquatic product raw materials, such raw materials shall be the main raw materials. Where the name reflects only one such raw material, all the raw materials used shall come from that livestock and poultry meat or animal aquatic product; where the name reflects two or more, the raw materials used shall be listed in the name in descending order of addition amount. For example, for meatballs made with both beef and pork, "beef balls" shall not be used as the food name.

Where the names of foods such as dumplings and steamed buns reflect raw materials of animal origin, they shall be reflected in the name in descending order of the addition amount of the animal-origin food raw materials. For example, dumplings whose filling uses only beef as the sole animal-origin food raw material may be called "beef dumplings". For steamed buns whose filling uses shrimp and pork as animal-origin food raw materials and where the amount of shrimp added is higher than that of pork, they may be called "shrimp and pork steamed buns". Animal-origin raw materials used only for seasoning (such as a small amount of dried small shrimp used for seasoning in quick-frozen wontons) may not be reflected in the food name.

5. Name requirements for simulated animal-origin foods and foods whose flavor is blended with essences and spices

Simulated animal-origin foods made from plant-origin food raw materials shall be prefixed in their names with words such as "imitation", "vegetarian" or "a certain plant". Where a food does not contain a certain ingredient and merely uses food essences and spices to blend the flavor of that ingredient, and the flavor of that ingredient is reflected in the food name, the name shall be prefixed with words such as "a certain flavor" or "a certain flavor profile".

Conclusion

The food name is the core information of a prepackaged food label and also a high-incidence area for label complaints and reports. As the implementation date of the new regulations approaches, Foodmate reminds food production and operation enterprises to carry out compliance self-inspections of food names as early as possible to avoid compliance risks.