Beverage Industry Symposium on Drafting of Production License Review Rules for Food-Use Plastic Packaging, Containers and Work Products

Recently, to assist the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in doing a good job of the market access work for food-use plastic packaging containers, and based on opinions reported by beverage enterprises and on problems existing in the "Detailed Rules for the Review of Production Licenses for Food-Use Plastic Packaging, Containers and Work Products" and in actual applications, the Technical Working Committee of the China Beverage Industry Association held a symposium in Beijing attended by nearly 20 representatives from beverage enterprises, PET bottle manufacturers and others.

Senior engineer Yu Wei and comrade Guo Xiangdan, who are in charge of this work at the Food Production Supervision Department of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and Dr. Wang Zhaohui, who is responsible for drafting the detailed rules at the National Professional Committee for Market Access of Food-Use Plastic Packaging Container Work, attended the meeting to give guidance. Zhao Yali, executive vice-chairman and secretary-general of the China Beverage Industry Association, chaired the meeting. Beverage enterprises including Coca-Cola, Wahaha, Huiyuan, Robust, Nongfu Spring, Nestlé, Master Kong, Jinmailang and Yunnan Dashan, and packaging enterprises including Zhuhai Zhongfu and Shanghai Zijiang, attended the meeting. Secretary-General Zhao Yali pointed out that packaging containers are an important link in food safety and that the beverage industry actively supports the government's quality supervision of packaging containers.

PET bottle packaging accounts for 80% of total beverage output. The production and supply of PET bottles in the beverage industry take a variety of forms, and PET bottle specifications are highly diverse, so the Detailed Rules and their implementation have an extremely significant impact on the beverage industry. In holding a meeting like this today, we hope everyone will raise the problems relevant to their own enterprise and to the industry. The government has adopted a serious, responsible and positive attitude in this work aimed at promoting the healthy development of the industry, and associations and enterprises should give it their active cooperation.

Enterprise representatives attending the symposium unanimously stated the importance of the Detailed Rules to enterprises and put forward specific opinions and suggestions on them. In view of the multiple production models for beverage PET bottles — in-line production or purchased preforms or purchased bottles; in view of the existing PET plastic bottle standards being too outdated; and in view of the fact that beverages involve three license numbers for the cap, the bottle body and the contents, the discussion concentrated on: the review items and indicators of the Detailed Rules should take ensuring food safety as the main thread; how the on-site verification methods and the certification units in the Detailed Rules should treat in-line beverage producers and container producers differently; determination of the index values for vertical compression resistance and drop performance of PET plastic bottles; and the marking of "QS", the required factory inspection equipment, and the list of testing institutions.

Yu Wei said that the establishment of the market access system for packaging containers is intended to regulate enterprises reasonably, and that the formulation of the Detailed Rules will not remain unchanged; from the Administration to herself personally, constructive and positive suggestions from all sectors of society are welcome. In particular, the way the beverage association brings enterprises together to put forward opinions and suggestions in an organized and systematic manner is the first of its kind among industries, and both the approach and the results will be good. She hoped that such voices can continue, and that associations and enterprises can assist the government in continuously improving this work.

At the end of the meeting, senior engineer Wang Zhaohui stressed the dynamic adjustment characteristics of the Detailed Rules and welcomed enterprises to actively put forward revision opinions and suggestions.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362328.html