The Announcement of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Strengthening the Quality and Safety Supervision of Solid Beverages (No. 46 of 2021) (hereinafter referred to as the "New Regulations") took effect on June 1, 2022. The Announcement make provisions on the quality and safety, sales promotion, labeling and other contents of solid beverages.

What is solid beverage?

In the standard of the Solid Beverages (GB/T 29602-2013), "solid beverage" refers to the solid products made from food raw and auxiliary materials, food additives, etc. in powder, granule or block form for blending or r brewing drinking.

Common solid beverages include: powdered flavored beverage, powdered protein beverage, powdered coffee beverage, powdered botanical beverage, powdered beverage for special uses and other powdered beverage.

Key points of the "new regulations"

01 Requirements for product name

l  The name of solid beverage should not be the same as that of special food approved;

l  The true nature of food "solid beverage" should be clearly marked on the product label;

l  The font size of the solid beverage should not be smaller than other words (including the words contained in trademarks, patterns, etc.) on the same display panel.

02 Requirements for warning information

Application scope:

Powdered protein beverage, powdered botanical beverage, powdered beverage for special uses, powdered flavored beverage and solid beverage with edible strains added served directly to consumers.

“Three elements” of mark:

l  Marked on the minimum sales unit;

l  Marked on the same display panel;

l  Mark that "this product cannot replace food for special medical purpose, infant and young children formula food, health food and other special food.

Note: the contents of the warning information should not be changed or modified in any way, and should not occupy less than 20% of the area on which it is located. The words should be printed in bold and have obvious color difference with the background of the warning information area.

03 Requirements for publicity

The labels, instructions and publicity materials of solid beverages:

l  should not express, imply or emphasize that the product is suitable for specific groups, such as minors, the elderly, pregnant women, sick people and people with nutritional risks or malnutrition;

l  should not express or imply disease prevention, treatment, health-care functions or meeting the special needs of people with specific diseases.

04 Requirements for transition period

The New Regulations took effect on June 1, 2022. The products produced previously can continue to sell within the shelf life.

According to the Notice of the General Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Extending the Use Time of the Remaining Packaging Materials of Solid Beverage Enterprises, if the existing packaging materials of solid beverage manufacturers are not used up before June 1, 2022, they can be extended the use until December 31, 2022.

Cautions for importing solid beverages

01 Ensure truthful declaration

The importer or agent should truthfully declare to the Customs in the process of food import and ensure that the name of the declared product is consistent with the true nature of the food.

02 Ensure label compliance

The importer should be responsible for examining whether the Chinese label of the imported prepackaged food conforms to the provisions of Chinese relevant laws, administrative regulations and national food safety standards. Those that fail to pass the examination should not be imported.

In the supervision of imported prepackaged food, if the Customs finds that the imported prepackaged food is not affixed with Chinese label or the Chinese label does not conform to the laws and regulations and national food safety standards, and the importer refuses to destruct, return or give technical treatment to the food involved according to the requirements of the Customs, the Customs will give a warning or impose a fine less than RMB 10,000!

Source: 12360 Customs Hotline

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