Essential Guide to Food Safety Standards for Imported Beverages

Unlock the complexities of the National Food Safety Standard for Beverages.This essential guide details crucial regulations for imported food,ensuring compliance and quality in the beverage industry.Learn more.

Scope and Definitions:

Beverage definition: Products made from one or more edible ingredients,processed into pre-packaged quantities for direct drinking or reconstitution,with ethanol content not exceeding 0.5% by mass.Excludes packaged drinking water and natural mineral water.The 2022 version of the standard refined the definition of beverages,clarified the use of raw and auxiliary materials,food additives,and nutritional fortifiers,while listing some easily understandable beverage categories.

Sensory Requirements:

The new standard has added the requirement of "having the appropriate taste and odor for the product," removed the descriptions regarding the uniform state of liquid beverages and the absence of clumping in solid beverages,and made slight adjustments to the testing methods for sensory requirements.

Physicochemical Indicators:

The requirements for physicochemical indicators remain largely unchanged.However,the scope of application for "the sum of zinc,copper,and iron" has been revised from "canned fruit and vegetable juice beverages" to "canned fruit and vegetable juices and their beverages." Additionally,the applicability of "cyanide" and "urease test" has been expanded to include beverages containing almond products and beverages containing soybean protein products,respectively.

Microbial Limits:

The new standard retained the three-tier sampling scheme requirement,with the total bacterial count limit (m) for solid beverages increased from 10³ CFU/g (ml) to 10⁴ CFU/g (ml).For coliform bacteria,the new standard stipulates that the acceptable level limit and maximum safety limit for beverage concentrates are the same as for solid beverages,at 10 CFU/g (ml) and 10² CFU/g (ml),respectively.The total bacterial count index does not apply to live (non-sterilized) beverages containing aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacterial strains.

5.Label requirements:

The new standard requires labels to clearly indicate whether the product is live (non-sterilized) or non-live (sterilized),a requirement applicable to products containing bacterial strains.Labels for live (non-sterilized) products containing lactic acid bacteria must indicate the lactic acid bacteria content,which should not be less than 10⁶ CFU/g (ml).The label must uniformly indicate the storage and transportation requirements as "Products requiring refrigerated or frozen storage and transportation."

Imported beverages must comply with the new standard requirements.As an importer,you need to ensure that the beverages you import meet Chinas National Food Safety Standard (GB 7101-2022).Before importing,it is recommended that you collaborate with suppliers and request corresponding product test reports and compliance certificates to ensure the beverages meet all requirements of the new standard.Additionally,you must pay attention to the labeling requirements for imported beverages,ensuring that necessary information is indicated on the labels,such as product type (live or non-live),lactic acid bacteria content,and storage and transportation requirements.

Please note that the above information only summarizes some of the major changes and requirements of the National Food Safety Standard for Beverages (GB 7101-2022).For accurate and detailed information,refer to the official standard document.