01 What is digital label?

Digital label refers to the food label displayed on food package by information means such as QR code. Consumers can obtain food label information by scanning the QR code on food package.

02 Background to the pilot work on digital label

With the advent of the information age, digitization has been fully used in our daily life, and has also brought a lot of convenience to our daily life. The China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (hereinafter referred to as the "CFSA") and relevant industry organizations have carried out a series of work such as digital label application research, industry research, product pilot and formulation of standards, aiming to expand the display form of food label, help manufacturers to innovate and develop, and improve the effectiveness of market supervision.

03 What are the advantages of digital label over traditional label?

Digital label has no layout restrictions, the font size can be enlarged, easier for consumers to read, but also through pictures, audio, video and other ways, enrich the means of food label information transmission.

Digital label can be scanned online by mobile phones and other portable devices to enrich information supervision means and help improve the efficiency of market supervision.

Digital label can provide more space for enterprises to display label information, save costs such as label printing, help innovation and green sustainable development of enterprises, and improve enterprise management efficiency.

04 What are the requirements for the pilot work on digital label?

In order to ensure that digital label, as a new carrier of food label, truly and accurately convey food label information to consumers, the CFSA has completed the revision of GB 7718 National Food Safety Standard General Principles for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods, including the requirements of digital label into the scope of national food safety standards, and clarify the application principles, requirements and display content of digital label. Ensure that the digital label display information is true and standardized, and provide technical basis for food production and management and market supervision.

The pilot work on digital label is carried out in accordance with the following requirements:

1. The content displayed on the digital label should comply with the provisions of laws, regulations and national food safety standards, and should be consistent with the information displayed on the physical label of the food.

2. When a digital label is used, it should be provided by digital means that comply with the provisions of national standards, and its identity should be indicated by "digital label" or similar words in the vicinity of the digital label.

3. Digital label should be provided in an easily accessible form that encourages compatibility with multiple means of identification. The content of the digital label should be displayed directly on the first level page after scanning and there should be no interference elements that affect normal reading.

4. The content of the digital label should be clear, eye-catching and easy to read. Food manufacturers can provide digital labels according to the needs of specific consumer groups, such as video, voice reading and other ways to provide food information on the basis of text identification.

Pilot enterprises are encouraged to actively collect consumer feedback to provide valuable suggestions for the continuous improvement of digital label functions. Before the release of the new GB 7718, the physical labels of the products participating in the pilot work on digital label still need to meet the requirements of GB 7718-2011.

05 How to choose a digital label display platform?

The digital label display platform is determined by the pilot enterprise itself, which can use the food enterprise’s own platform to independently design the digital label display page, or use a third-party platform to display the digital label.

In order to facilitate more products to join the pilot work on digital label, China Article Coding Center (Automatic Identification Manufacture Association of China), as a pilot participant, has customized a unified platform for the digital label pilot free of charge, helping enterprises to automatically generate food digital label QR code with the help of the platform. If the pilot enterprise is willing to use the unified platform, it can select the "unified platform" option when registering information.

06 When will the pilot product be available?

After the pilot enterprise completes the production of the pilot product, it can be listed at any time. Timely attention can be paid to the promotional activities such as digital label theme salon to be carried out by the National Health Commission, the CFSA, industry organizations, etc.

07 Which enterprises can participate in the pilot work?

All prepackaged foods produced by food enterprises can participate in the pilot, encourage industry leaders, high-consumption food categories and star products to take the lead in participating, and further expand the scope of digital label services.

Food manufacturers are encouraged to prepare technical reserves related to digital labels in advance by participating in the digital label pilot, so as to lay a good foundation for the comprehensive application of digital label.

Source: CFSA

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