GB 7718-2025 National food safety standard - General standard for the labeling of prepackaged foods
1 Scope
This standard is applicable to the labeling of prepackaged foods provided directly to consumers and that of prepackaged foods provided indirectly to consumers.
This standard is not applicable to the food storage and transportation packaging labels, bulk food and made-on-site food labels that provide protection for food during storage and transportation.
2 Terms and definitions
2.1
prepackaged food
food prepackaged or made in packaging materials or containers, including the food which is quantitatively prepackaged or quantitatively premade in packaging materials and containers and has uniform mass, volume or length marks within a certain quantity limit range, as well as the food prepackaged or made in packaging materials and containers for sale by measurement
2.2
food label
all explanations on food packaging including words, graphics and symbols
2.3
digital label
food label displayed on food packaging by two-dimensional codes or other information technology
2.4
ingredient
all the substances that are used during the production or processing of a food and also exist (including the existence in a modified form) in the food, including food additives (e.g. food nutrition enhancer)
2.5
production date
date when the food becomes the final product, including the date of packaging or filling
2.6
shelf life
period for prepackaged food to maintain its quality under the storage conditions indicated on the food label
2.7
specifications
expression of the relationship between the net content and the number of contained pieces where the same prepackaged food contains multiple pre-quantitatively prepackaged foods
3 Basic requirements
3.1 The food label shall meet the requirements of the corresponding national food safety standards.
3.2 The food label shall be clear, eye-catching and durable, so that consumers can easily identify and read it at the time of purchasing, and shall not be separated from food or its packaging and containers.
3.3 It shall be easy to understand and scientifically based, and shall not be labeled with contents that violate scientific common sense, public order and good customs, belittle other foods, feudal superstitions, etc.
3.4 It shall be authentic and accurate. It is not allowed to use any false, exaggerated or other deceptive language, graphics, symbols, etc. to introduce food, nor use font size, color difference, layout design, etc. to mislead consumers about food or a certain property of food with another product.
3.5 The food label shall not explicitly state or imply through wording, graphics, symbols and other ways that the food or any of its ingredients has the effects of prevention and treatment of disease. Non-health foods shall not explicitly state or imply that they have health functions (efficacy).
3.6 The food label shall use standardized Chinese characters (except trademarks, emails and websites), and may simultaneously use traditional Chinese characters, Pinyin, minority characters and foreign languages.
4 Contents of prepackaged food labels provided directly to consumers
4.1 General requirements
The labels of prepackaged foods produced, processed and sold in China shall include food name, ingredient list, nutrition label, net content and specifications (except those sold by measurement), name, address and contact information of producers and/or operators, production date and expiry date of shelf life, storage conditions, food production license number, product standard code, allergens tips and other contents required by laws, regulations and national food safety standards, except those exempted from being labeled on food products as specified by laws, regulations and national food safety standards.
4.2 Food name
4.2.1 The name reflecting the true attributes of the food shall be in a conspicuous position on the food label. An attribute name refers to a special name that reflects the inherent characteristics of food itself that does not need to be explained or have been explained, including the description of one or more food-specific characteristics such as food or ingredient characteristics, process characteristics, food categories, etc.
4.2.1.1 If one or several names of a certain food have been stipulated or adopted in national standards, industry standards, provincial standards, regulations and announcements related to food naming issued by the relevant department of the State Council, one of the above names or the name that is essentially the same as the above names shall be selected as the attribute name.
4.2.1.2 If there are no names specified or used in national standards, industry standards, provincial standards, regulations and announcements related to food naming issued by the relevant department of the State Council, a name that can fully explain the true attributes of food and is not easy to misunderstand or confuse consumers shall be used as the attribute name.
4.2.2 Names such as "new name", "peculiar name", "transliterated name", "regional slang name" or "trademark name" of food may be labeled on the same display layout of food attribute name. If the above names contain characters or words that are likely to mislead or confuse consumers about the food attributes, they shall be labeled in the color and font that is not higher than the attribute name and the same as the attribute name in an adjacent position on the same display layout of the attribute name.
4.3 Ingredient list
4.3.1 The label of prepackaged food (including single-ingredient food) shall be labeled with an ingredient list, and the ingredient list shall be labeled with guiding words. All ingredients in the ingredient list shall be labeled according to the requirements of 4.2, and food additives shall be labeled according to the requirements of 4.3.4. Unless otherwise stipulated by national standards, industry standards and provincial standards, the ingredients listed in A.4 of Annex A may be labeled with their specific names or by classification specified in Table A.1.
Foreword i
1 Scope
2 Terms and definitions
3 Basic requirements
4 Contents of prepackaged food labels provided directly to consumers
5 Contents of prepackaged food labels provided indirectly to consumers
6 Special foods
7 Food claims
8 Imported foods
9 Requirements for digital labels
10 Content of the exemption labeling
Annex A Labeling format of some label items in prepackaged food labels
Annex B Labeling format of food additives in ingredient lists
Annex C Method for calculating the maximum surface area of packaging or container
Annex D Labeling format of allergens in food labels
