Recently, the National Health Commission issued the National Food Safety Standard Canned Complementary Foods for Infants and Young Children (draft for comments) to publicly solicit opinions. The deadline for comments is March 20, 2022. Antion compared the draft with the current version, and analyzed and interpreted its major changes and impacts as follows:

Modified the descriptions of the scope, terms, definitions and product form categories

In order to further clarify the scope of application of the regulations, the scope of application of the draft has been changed from the original "canned complementary foods for infants and children above 6 months" to "canned complementary foods for infants and children aged 6 to 36 months". This change makes the scope of application of the standard clearer and the expressions of the population more precise. The draft also revised the definition and description of older infants to be consistent with the definition of older infants in GB 10766-2021 National Food Safety Standard Older Infant Formula (hereinafter referred to as GB 10766-2021). In the product form descriptions, the description of "semi-solid or solid state" was added to the definition of mud (paste) canned complementary foods. The definition of granular canned complementary foods was refined. The original "granular canned complementary foods" was modified to "granular and tablet (block) canned complementary foods", and for the products for older infants aged from 6 to 12 months, "the size of the granule and tablet (block) should be less than 5mm" is required. These changes can help enterprises better understand the standard.

Prohibited items have been added to the requirements for raw materials

Added the requirement that "sucrose, fructose, glucose and glucose syrup should not be added", expanding the range of prohibited raw materials. This requirement is in line with "fructose and sucrose shall not be used as a source of carbohydrates" in GB 10766-2021, so as to reduce the intake of other sugars for older infants and young children, which is in line with the advocacy of "three reduction three health" and conducive to the healthy growth of infants and young children.

Modified the expression forms of physical and chemical indicators of product

The table form of "Table 2 Physical and chemical indicators" in the current standard was replaced with text form to avoid inconsistency with product form classification in the definition of terms in the current standard.

Expanded the sources of animal food and raw materials

"Shrimp meat" and "animal livers" are added to the list of animal food sources according to the categories of animal food that Chinese people consume in daily life. The raw material source of the product category has been expanded from the original "mixture of animal food and vegetables" to the mixture of "animal food and other food raw materials". Thus, it increased the abundance of raw materials and provides more choices for enterprise product R&D and consumer purchase.

Added and refined the requirements of some physical and chemical indicators

Added "the amount of histamine in products containing fish should not exceed 10mg/100g". According to the national standard GB 2733-2015 National Food Safety Standard Fresh and Frozen Animal Aquatic Products, histamine in mackerel and other high-histamine fishes should be ≤40mg/100g and histamine in other marine fishes should be ≤20mg/100g. In contrast, the limit of histamine in the draft is stricter than the national standard for fresh and frozen animal aquatic products. In addition, "fruit products should not be added sodium chloride" in the current standard was modified to "for juice, mud, granule or piece (block) of products made with fruits and/or vegetables as the main raw materials, sodium chloride should not be added". The categories of products that should not be added sodium chloride were clarified and refined. Compared with the current standard, the physical and chemical indicators of products are more stringent in the draft, improving the quality of products and quality requirements.

Modified the limits for contaminants and mycotoxins

In accordance with the requirements of the Principles for the System Construction of the National Food Safety Standards, the limits for contaminants and mycotoxins should be referred to the general standards. It can better avoid the conflict between product standards and general standards.

Added the requirements for labeling

Compared with the requirements for labeling in the current standard, the canned complementary foods in the form of granule or piece (block) for infants and young children were added, and the notification that "this product contains granule or piece (block), please pay attention to swallowing safety when consuming" should be marked.

Conclusion

The National Food Safety Standard Canned Complementary Foods for Infants and Young Children (draft for comments) fully considered the actual situations of manufacturers in China and drew lessons from the standard management experience of international organizations and major developed countries. It further reduces the food safety risk of canned complementary foods for infants and young children, helps to promote the upgrade of the product quality, and lays a good foundation for the high-quality development of infants and young children industry in China.

Source: Antion

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