The first national standard for mixed food additives was published in July 2011 and will take effect on 5 Sept. 2011.

1. Standard for Mixed Food Additives to be Implemented in Sep 2011
Summary: The first national standard for mixed food additives was published in July 2011
and will take effect on 5 Sept. 2011.
Tag: mixed food additives, Food Safety Standard, lean meat essence, Corn starch, Zhengda
Linghua, food safety, VC, VB, Corn oil, Potato starch
August 22, 2011, CCM - In July 2011, the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China
published the first national standard for mixed food additives—National Food Safety Standard:
General Rules on Mixed Food Additives (the General Rules), which will take effect on 5 Sept.
2011 as planned. The standard is believed to bring much positive effects on the mixed food
additive industry and help it develop healthily and rapidly in the future, according to CCM’s
August issue of Corn Products China News.
Against the backdrop of the 2008 melamine scandal and many food incidents happened since
then, Chinese government strengthens its supervision of the food industry over the past two
years. And food additives have become the focus of the government's attention in 2011—it has
launched several relevant policies and standards, such as the new Standards for uses of Food
Additives issued on 20 April 2011, particularly prompted by recent food incidents such as "lean
meat essence" scare in March 2011 (centred on pork products tainted with ractopamine and
clenbuterol, denoted by the Chinese nickname "lean meat essence" or shou rou jing, with which if
pigs are fed, they can be prevented to accumulate fat). Now the General Rules are the second
step for the government to further strengthen regulation in food industry.
The highlights of the General Rules are as follows. Firstly, it sets some basic requirements for
mixed food additives: mixed food additives shall not be harmful to human health; shall be in
accordance with the new Standards for uses of Food Additives issued in April 2011; shall not
contain any chemical reaction in production or produce new chemical compound, whilst the
amount used shall be kept as low as possible. Besides, mixed food additives processors shall
establish management system for mixed food additives' production and clearly stipulate the
content and detection methods of every food additive.
Secondly, the General Rules stipulates the maximum quantity of hazardous substances in
accordance with weighted data result and pathogenic micro organisms in mixed food additives.
But only two kinds of hazardous substances' maximum quantity is detailed—lead and arsenic—
both at 2.0 mg/kg when the weighted data result is not applicable. As for pathogenic micro
organisms, they shall not be detected to exist in end products.
Thirdly, labels of mixed food additives are specified in detail. All of the labels shall cover the
name, specification and content of the product and contact information of manufacturer,
production license number, etc. Moreover, the name of each single food additive in the production

2. of mixed food additives shall be labelled, and the mixed food additives for retail sales on the
market or in catering industry shall be labelled with the content of every single food additive
besides its name.
In addition, imported mixed food additives shall have labels or specifications written in Chinese
with country of origin and the name, address, and contact information of domestic agencies,
besides the label content mentioned above. (name, address and contact information of foreign
manufacturers can be written in their local languages.) It is worth noting that the production
license number can be exempted in the label of imported mixed food additives.
It's believed that the General Rules will impose much positive effects on the mixed food additive
industry in the future, according to CCM’s August issue of Corn Products China News. On one
hand, mixed food additive manufacturers can be qualified to apply for food additive production
license, which can help improve the average quality of mixed food additives. According to an
announcement issued by the State Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and
Quarantine (AQSIQ) on 7 December 2010, all food additive processors shall apply for "Food
Additive Production License" before 1 March 2011. However, mixed food additive processors
can't apply for the license because there used to be no national standard for mixed food additive
industry. Now, the execution of the General Rules grants them the access.
In this point, lots of small mixed food additives manufacturers will be eliminated because they
probably can't get the license. According to the General Rules on Production Permission of Food
Additives published on 13 Aug. 2010 and coming into force on 1 Sept. 2010, only those food
additives manufacturers getting over 133 points can get the food additive production license. (The
full mark is 150 points and it's judged by 75 items including production technology, production
environment, production management and so on.) That means the license is difficult to obtain,
especially for small processors, but without which they are forbidden to produce mixed food
additives. Obviously, large and powerful manufacturers can get benefits and increase market
share.
On the other hand, the price of mixed food additives may be pushed up in the future, as the
production cost will increase because the production environment and equipment shall be
upgraded to meet the requirements of the food additive production license. The cost of raw
material—single food additive—will particularly rise. Corn starch, for example, is a common raw
material. It can be generally divided into industrial grade and food grade; the former has lower
price but pathogenic micro organisms beyond limits usually. Some manufacturers still use
industrial grade corn starch for low price, and what's more important, there's no standard to
regulate it before. But now, based on the General Rules, industrial grade corn starch can not be
used for mixed food additives' production any more, which will increase the production cost.

3. Some experts consider that the General Rules may reduce the supply of mixed food additives
and thereby the demand for single food additive may also decline. However, in CCM's opinion,
the demand for single food additive won't be reduced but will increase in the long term. Because
the General Rules makes mixed food additives industry more standardized and the public will
have more confidence in it, which can increase its demand.
However, the General Rules' content is too general and hard to execute to some extent, and it
needs more detailed rules and regulations. It's reported that Chinese government may issue
related detailed rules and regulations in the near future.
Source: Corn Products China News 1108
http://www.cnchemicals.com/Newsletter/NewsletterDetail_6.html
Content of Corn Products China News 1108:
Zhengda Linghua suspends lysine production for relocation and capacity expansion
376,053 tonnes of citric acid exported in H1 2011
Chinese corn products Imp. & Exp. analysis in June 2011
VC price keeps stable and VB2's rises slightly in Aug. 2011
Glucose monohydrate price drops in recent two months
Standard for mixed food additives to be implemented in Sept. 2011
Corn oil industry may welcome potential adjustment to VAT system
High-value added amino acids: profit contributor of Meihua Group
100,000t/a HFCS production lines launched by Huakang Pharmaceutical
Baolingbao performs well in H1 2011 thanks to HFCS
Potato starch import volume declines in H1 2011
Corn price may maintain an uptrend till this October
Corn Products China News, a monthly publication issued by CCM International on 20th of every
month, presents the latest news of China’s corn deep processing products to reveal the driving
force of the event and deeply analyzes the influence of the event on domestic and international
corn deep processing industry.

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