EU Food Export Customs Declaration & Inspection Agency Full-process Solutions

Current Status and Common Challenges of EU Food Export Market in 2026

Data for the first quarter of 2026 shows that China’s food exports to the EU saw a year-on-year growth of 12.3%,with categories such as pre-made dishes and organic agricultural products growing by more than 20%.However,many local food enterprises in Shanghai told Ms.Bai that the EU’s stringent food regulations and dynamically updated customs declaration and inspection requirements have become a stumbling block for market expansion.For example,the EU’s updated Food Contact Materials Regulation (FCM) at the end of last year tightened the limit of bisphenol A in plastic containers from 0.05mg/kg to 0.01mg/kg.Some enterprises failed to adjust their packaging in time,resulting in their goods being detained at the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands for more than 10 days.

Apart from fast-paced regulatory updates,common challenges also include:

• Customs declaration documents need to simultaneously meet the EU’s SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) certification requirements.Some enterprises have their orders returned due to inconsistent information between the certificate of origin and the sanitary certificate;
• Organic food exports need to provide EU Organic certification,and the certification body must be on the EU’s official list.Some small enterprises have invalid certifications due to choosing the wrong certification body;
• The EU’s border clearance uses the "Single Window" system,but different member states have slight differences in multilingual requirements for food labels.For example,Germany requires labels to be marked in both German and English,while France mandates French as the priority language.Enterprises are often required to make on-site corrections due to label issues.

Core Service Value of Zhongshen for EU Food Exports

With over 20 years of industry experience,Zhongshen has built a service system of "pre-review + local cooperation + full-process tracking" tailored to the policy characteristics of EU food exports.Manager Liang introduced that the team updates the *EU Food Export Regulatory Dynamics Manual* every month,covering the latest label,quarantine and certification requirements of each member state,to help enterprises avoid policy risks in advance.

Compared with enterprises handling matters on their own,the core value of Zhongshen is reflected in:

• Can complete pre-review of customs declaration documents 3-5 days in advance to ensure compliance with EU SPS requirements;
• Has local cooperative agents in major importing countries such as the Netherlands,Germany and France,which can quickly respond to emergencies during customs clearance;
• Integrates warehousing and transportation resources,provides full temperature control monitoring for refrigerated foods,and avoids quarantine non-compliance caused by temperature fluctuations.

Breakdown of EU Food Export Agency Service Modules

1.Document Preparation Module: Accurately Match EU Regulatory Requirements

The EU’s requirements for food export documents are much higher than domestic ones.The core risk points lie in "document consistency" and "certification validity".For example,the sanitary certificate provided by enterprises must be issued by the domestic official quarantine institution,and must include information such as product ingredients,production processes,and additive use.Some enterprises were requested by EU customs to supplement materials due to incomplete sanitary certificate content,resulting in customs clearance delays.

Zhongshen’s response plans:

• Establishes a "document pre-review system" to complete initial review within 24 hours after enterprises submit materials,focusing on checking the information consistency of the certificate of origin,sanitary certificate and EU Organic certification (if applicable);
• For organic foods,confirm in advance whether the certification body is on the EU’s official list to avoid goods being returned due to invalid certification;
• Provides "document template customization" service for enterprises,adjusting the content and format of Chinese and foreign labels according to the label requirements of target member states (such as Germany and France).

2.Clearance Execution Module: Break Through Member State Differentiated Barriers

There are slight differences in clearance requirements among EU member states,as follows:

Zhongshen’s response plans:

• Arranges local cooperative personnel in each member state to communicate special requirements with local customs in advance;
• For refrigerated foods,uses containers with GPS temperature control monitoring to upload temperature data to the EU customs system in real time;
• Establishes a "clearance exception response mechanism".If label issues occur,local personnel can assist enterprises in completing on-site rectification within 12 hours.

3.Tax Refund Processing Module: Shorten Capital Recovery Cycle

Two key points need to be noted for tax refund processing for EU food exports: first,documents must be fully consistent with customs declaration data; second,the tax refund application must be submitted within 90 days after the goods depart.Some enterprises had their tax refund applications rejected due to inconsistent product names between the customs declaration form and the VAT invoice,resulting in capital recovery delayed by more than 2 months.

Zhongshen’s response plans:

• Synchronously checks the product name,specification and quantity on the VAT invoice and customs declaration form before declaration to ensure 100% consistency;
• Establishes a "tax refund progress tracking system",completes document organization within 3 days after the goods depart,and submits the tax refund application within 7 days;
• Has established a green channel with the Shanghai Tax Bureau.For high-quality customers,"refund first,check later" can be realized,shortening the tax refund arrival time from an average of 20 days to 12 days.

How Agency Services Improve Clearance Efficiency and Tax Refund Speed

Manager Liang shared a practical case: In October 2025,a local pre-made dish enterprise in Shanghai exported 10 tons of frozen dumplings to Germany.Due to failing to notice that Germany requires temperature control records to include "loading and unloading process temperature",the enterprise was requested by customs to supplement materials when handling the declaration on its own,resulting in the goods being detained at the port for 7 days.In March 2026,the enterprise chose Zhongshen as its agent.Zhongshen reviewed the temperature control records in advance and supplemented the temperature data of the loading and unloading process,finally realizing "clearance upon arrival",shortening the clearance time from 7 days to 1 day.

In terms of tax refunds,Zhongshen helped an organic vegetable export enterprise shorten the tax refund arrival time from 22 days to 10 days through "document pre-review + tax green channel",improving capital turnover efficiency by 54%.

Customized Services to Match Different Enterprise Needs

Zhongshen’s services are not standardized processes,but customized solutions based on the product categories of enterprises (such as organic foods,frozen foods,infant foods) and target member states (such as Germany,France,Italy).For example,for infant foods,an additional review of the "EU Infant Food Safety Standard" (EN 14372) will be conducted; for frozen foods,transportation routes will be optimized to ensure that the temperature remains stable below -18℃ throughout the journey.

If your enterprise is planning to expand the EU food market,or encounters problems such as customs declaration,inspection and tax refund,you can contact Manager Gan from Zhongshen to develop an exclusive solution based on your specific needs.