New national safety standard for China

China has published a national safety standard to set limits for pathogens in food: GB 29921-2013. The standard, published by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, will be effective from 1 July 2014.

The purpose of the new standard is to monitor Chinese food for pathogens. It refers to food pathogen limits of Australia/New Zealand, as well as Codex Alimentarius, the European Union, Japan, the USA, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries.

Analysis of food poisoning incidents between 2005 and 2011 showed that ready-to-eat and raw foods were frequently involved. Foods most frequently listed include:

• meat products,
• fishery products,
• ready-to-eat egg products,
• cereal products,
• chocolates and cocoa products,
• ready-to-eat processed fruit and vegetables,
• beverages and frozen drinks,
• ready-to-eat spices, nuts and seed products.

Non-ready-to-eat fresh foods and dairy products are not specified in the standard. The pathogen indicators, limits and sampling programs of the 562 current Chinese standards were modified.

The new standard is applicable to prepackaged food and provides a list of pathogen indicators, limit requirements and test methods.

In the development of this standard, advice was widely sought from public and relevant departments to ensure the scientific nature, openness and transparency of the standard and to facilitate acceptance by WHO (World Health Organization) affiliates.