On November 18, 2016, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) announced the release of 53 new national food safety standards via Announcement No. 15, including the "National Food Safety Standard - General Safety Requirements for Food Contact Materials and Articles" (GB 4806.1-2016). The major updates in these new standards include, but are not limited to, the following aspects:

1.Modification of the standard titles.

2.Modification of the scope of application.

3.Modification or addition of physicochemical indicators.

4.Addition of terms and definitions.

5.Addition of migration test requirements and modification of migration test conditions.

6.Addition of general requirements and raw material requirements.

7.Addition of labeling and identification requirements.

In recent years, relevant national authorities have undertaken a comprehensive review and consolidation of the national standards for food contact materials and articles. The release of the consolidated new standards began at the end of 2015. To date, a total of 64 mandatory national standards for food contact materials and articles have been published. Among these:

•3 standards are already in force.

•10 standards came into effect on March 1, 2017.

•49 standards came into effect on April 19, 2017.

•2 standards came into effect on October 19, 2017.

Compliance with the new standards for food contact materials requires attention to the following key areas:

1.Production of the products must comply with the General Hygiene Specification for the Production of Food Contact Materials.

2.Principles of use, labeling, and declarations of conformity must meet the General Safety Requirements for Food Contact Materials.

3.The use of additives must comply with GB 9685.

4.Raw materials, product technical requirements, specific migration test conditions, and specific usage requirements must conform to the relevant product standards.

5.Migration testing must comply with the General Rules for Migration Testing, the General Rules for Pretreatment of Migration Tests (with specific conditions defined by the product standards), and the corresponding analytical method standards.

Test Items

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