National Health Commission Releases 47 New National Standards for Food Safety
According to the provisions of the "Food Safety Law," the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the first announcement of 2024, releasing 47 new national standards for food safety and 6 amendments.
The main contents include: 1 general standard for the use of food additives, 1 food product standard for "Milk Powder and Modified Milk Powder," 1 standard for food-related products for "Adhesives for Food Contact Materials and Products," 7 physicochemical inspection method standards such as "Determination of Relative Density of Foods," 16 microbial examination method standards such as "Microbiological Examination of Foods - Salmonella Test," 7 quality specifications for food nutrition fortifiers such as "Arachidonic Acid Fatty Acids (Fermentation Method)," and 14 quality specifications for food additives such as "Pine Resin and Pentaerythritol Ester," as well as 6 amendments. The formulation and revision of the above standards comply with the provisions of laws and regulations, fully consider the health rights and interests of the public, take into account the needs of the food industry development, refer to international relevant regulations and common practices, and the process of formulating and revising the standards has fully solicited opinions from all sectors of society and reported to the World Trade Organization.
The newly announced "Standard for the Use of Food Additives" (GB 2760-2024) includes the varieties and usage regulations of food additives approved for use since the implementation of the 2014 edition of the standard, up to the National Health Commission's 2023 No. 5 announcement. Based on the latest assessment results of the safety and technical necessity of food additives, some varieties of food additives and/or their usage regulations have been revised; to prevent the misuse of food flavors, the principles for the use of food flavors and fragrances have been revised. "Milk Powder and Modified Milk Powder" further standardizes the requirements for modified milk powder products in line with the development of the dairy industry and consumer demand, and includes the requirements for milk powder from various specialty dairy animals such as camel's milk, to safeguard and promote consumer food safety and nutritional health.