General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods to Take Effect and Be Implemented on the 20th of Next Month

[ppzhan abstract]

] The national food safety standard General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods will take effect and be implemented on April 20. The new edition of the General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods imposes stricter provisions on basic requirements and labeling content, and it applies to both domestic and foreign foods. This revised national food safety standard adds general requirements for the labeling of prepackaged foods supplied directly to consumers.

A small prepackaged food label actually conceals a great deal — information on a product's "ins and outs." On March 27, 2012, the reporter learned from the Ningbo inspection and quarantine authorities that the national food safety standard General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods will take effect and be implemented on April 20. The new edition of the General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods imposes stricter provisions on basic requirements and labeling content, and it applies to both domestic and foreign foods.

On March 27, 2012, the reporter visited a number of shopping malls and supermarkets in the city and found that some imported or domestic foods had problems such as missing label content, exaggerated ingredient claims, and confusion between place of origin and place of filling.

In fact, the new rules are much stricter than the current ones. This revised national food safety standard adds general requirements for the labeling of prepackaged foods supplied directly to consumers. It stipulates that the labeling of packaged foods shall include the food name, ingredient list, net content and specifications, the name, address and contact information of the producer and/or distributor, production date and shelf life, storage conditions, food production license number, product standard code, and other content requiring labeling. In a market survey, the reporter found that when it comes to net content labeling, the new rules shut out "flashy but insubstantial" products.

The new standard clarifies the labeling of ingredient names. It adds the requirement that food additives shall be labeled with their common names.

In order to strictly prevent some unscrupulous merchants from "fishing in troubled waters" with food shelf life, the new standard adds provisions on the production date and shelf life of large packages. It requires that when a single prepackaged unit contains multiple individually prepackaged foods each labeled with a production date and shelf life, the shelf life indicated on the outer package shall be calculated according to the shelf life of the individual food that expires earliest.

In addition, requirements are further tightened for the labeling of foods for special dietary uses and staple and complementary foods for infants and young children. It is stipulated that foods for special dietary uses and staple and complementary foods for infants and young children shall indicate their main nutritional components and their contents. The new standard adds a provision that monosodium glutamate (MSG) may be exempt from indicating a shelf life. It also adds a provision encouraging the labeling of allergenic substances.

On March 27, the reporter learned that some food manufacturers in Ningbo have already acted on the news; they have begun redesigning the labels of packaged foods, and the labels of pastry foods produced after April 20 will all follow the new requirements.

— This article is reposted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362081.html