On March 12, 2024, China's National Health Commission (NHC) and State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) jointly published 47 new national food safety standards and 6 amendment sheets to existing ones. These new standards include 1 for dairy products, 1 for food contact materials, 7 for food testing methods, 16 for microbial testing methods and 22 for food additives and nutritional fortifiers. For the six amendment sheets, they are all related to specific food additives.

The release of these standards brings the total number of national food safety standards enacted in China to 1,610.

We selected food products standards and food additives standards as follows.

1 standard for dairy products

• The update standard applies to milk powder and modified milk powder products from a wider range of dairy sources, stipulating corresponding technical requirements for raw materials, sensory attributes, physicochemical indicators, limits of contaminants, mycotoxins and microorganisms, as well as the usage of food additives and nutrient fortifiers. Additionally, it includes noticeable labeling requirements. Overall, the revision contributes to further standardizing China's milk powder industry, particularly nurturing the growth of niche milk powder segments.

  22 standards for food additives

  

• As the primary and most important legal framework for the regulation and proper use of food additives in China, the new GB 2760 introduces several key changes. As per the new standard, the search mechanism of Appendix A for food additives is optimized. New combined usage limits are set for sweeteners like aspartame and acesulfame in the same food categories. Furthermore, flavorings that possess additional functions as food additives or other applications in food should be prepared as flavor essences for food aromatization.

6 amendment sheets

Source: NHC and Chemlinked

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