Prepackaged Food Labeling Rules Take Effect April 20: Three Labeling Changes for Food Packaging Compliance

For the flexible packaging and food-label printing supply chain, April 20 this year is a critical date: the General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods will officially take effect. Compared with the old standard, the new rules bring three main changes: food additives are labeled differently, allergenic substances now have recommended labeling requirements, and storage life is removed in favor of a single shelf-life declaration. Huai'an quality supervision authorities have already, together with citywide annual reviews of food-licensed enterprises, legal-representative meetings and routine inspections, communicated the requirements to every licensed enterprise through regulatory interviews, text messages, online notices and other multi-channel methods.

After the implementation date, food manufacturers must comply with the General Rules; however, food that used old-version labels before that date may continue to be sold within the product's shelf life. This means the preparation and label-switching window left for food companies is already short.

According to Huai'an staff, the new standard's three major changes versus the old one are: a revised method for labeling food additives, added recommended labeling requirements for allergenic substances, and the cancellation of storage life with shelf life uniformly declared.

To this end, Huai'an quality supervision authorities have combined the annual review of food-licensed enterprises citywide, legal-representative meetings and routine inspections with regulatory interviews, text messages, online channels and other approaches to deliver the requirements to each licensed enterprise. All food companies are also required to study the standard carefully, review each clause in detail, promptly correct label markings against the requirements, and make every effort to ensure compliant labeling, thereby safeguarding consumer rights and the enterprises' own interests.

At the same time, with local businesses' convenience in mind, dedicated briefing sessions on implementing the standards will be held, with relevant experts invited to Huai'an to give lectures and better answer questions from local food enterprises.

— This article is reposted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362091.html