The National Food Safety Standard General Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods (hereinafter referred to as GB 7718-2011) mandates the marking of storage conditions, for some specific products, the product standards further clearly require the marking of storage or transportation temperature. Antion briefly sorted out some of the regulations related to storage/transportation temperature for the reference of the industry and enterprises.

According to 4.1.8 of GB 7718-2011, the labels of prepackaged foods shall declare the storage conditions. Appendix C.5 also lists in detail the labeling forms of storage conditions (see below). However, in fact, the form of storage conditions is not particularly strict, without changing the basic meaning, the enterprise can modified it appropriately according to the actual situation:

1) Store at room temperature (or under freezing or refrigeration conditions, or away from light, or in cool and dry place);

2) Store at ×× - ×× ℃;

3) Please store in a cool and dry place;

4) Store at room temperature; and keep under refrigeration conditions after opening;

5) Temperature: ≤× ×℃; Humidity: ≤× × %.

However, for cheese, process(ed) cheese, cheese products, unpasteurized (live bacteria) fermented milk beverages and unpasteurized (live bacteria) lactic acid bacteria beverages, the storage and transportation temperature must be labeled according to standards, and the specific regulations are listed below:

01 Cheese, process(ed) cheese and cheese products

GB 5420-2021 National Food Safety Standard Cheese and GB 25192-2022 National Food Safety Standard Process(ed) Cheese and Cheese Products stipulate that the product label should clearly label the transport and storage temperature.

The labeling methods are listed as follows:

Storage conditions: store at xx℃-xx℃; Transportation condition: xx℃-xx℃.

Storage/transportation conditions: store and transport at xx℃-xx℃.

Cheese, process(ed) cheese and cheese products are special, if the storage/transportation temperature is too high or too low, it is easy to cause product damage, resulting in product quality decline. This provision is conducive to the storage and transportation of products by distributors to ensure food safety.

02 Unpasteurized (live bacteria) fermented milk beverages and unpasteurized (live bacteria) lactic acid bacteria beverages

GB 7101-2022 National Food Safety Standard Beverages stipulates that products to be refrigerated or frozen for storage and transportation shall be marked with storage and transportation conditions. This provision does not mandate the marking of temperature, and enterprises can voluntarily decide whether to mark it according to the actual situation.

Compared with the above provisions, GB/T 21732-2008 Milk Beverages stipulates that the unpasteurized (live bacteria) fermented milk beverages and unpasteurized (live bacteria) lactic acid bacteria beverage shall be labeled with the temperatures of product transportation and storage. The unpasteurized (live bacteria) products shall be transported and stored at a low temperature of 2 °C ~10 °C.

In summary, enterprises should mark the storage/transportation temperature in strict accordance with the above regulations to avoid problems caused by marking.

Source: Antion

Note: This article is compiled by Antion. Please indicate the source for reprint.