On April 12, 2021, the General Administration of Customs of China issued the Measures for the Administration of Import and Export Food Safety of the People’s Republic of China (General Administration of Customs Order No. 249) – hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”. Among them, there are new regulations on the labels of imported foods. The new regulations will be implemented on January 1, 2022. New products processed after January 1, 2022 need to follow the new label regulations.
Let’s take a look at the changes in the labeling requirements for imported aquatic products.
For a more direct and clear comparison, let’s first introduce the old version of the labeling requirements:
The old label requirements stipulate that imported aquatic products should have intact and non-breakable outer packaging and new non-toxic and harmless inner and outer packaging. In order to protect consumers’ right to know, the text on the inner and outer packaging should be in Chinese and English, firm, clear and easy to distinguish. The following should be displayed:
1. The commodity name and scientific name, specifications, production date, expiry date batch number and storage conditions.
2. Production methods, (seawater fishing, freshwater fishing, and farmed).
3. Production areas (ocean fishing areas, freshwater fishing country or region and countries or regions where farm areas are located).
4. The name and registration number of the production and processing company (fishing vessel).
5. The destination must be marked as the People’s Republic of China.
The following are the new label requirements that will be implemented on January 1, 2022:
For imported aquatic products, there should be firm, clear, and easily distinguishable Chinese and English text on the inner and outer packaging, Or Chinese and export country (region) text label indicating the following:
1. The commodity name and scientific name, specifications, production date, batch number, expiry date and storage conditions.
2. Production methods (seawater fishing, freshwater fishing, farmed),
3. Production area (ocean fishing area, freshwater fishing country or region, country or region where the farmed product is located)
4. The name, registration number and address (specific to the state/province/city) of all processing enterprises involved (including fishing vessels, processing vessels, transport vessels, independent cold storage).
5. The destination must be marked as the People’s Republic of China.
Through comparison, it can be seen that the labeling requirements have not changed too much. Articles 1, 2, 3 and 5 continue the previous labeling requirements, no any change.
But in article 4, in addition of the name and the registration number of processing enterprises, address also needs to be added, and it must be specific to the state/province/city. It´s emphasized that this information is required for all the companies involved.
