China’s CFSA Publishes Implementation Guidance on GB 9685-2016

China's National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA) published a guidance book on the implementation of GB 9685-2016 on June 1, 2017. This guidance book, titled, GB 9685-2016 <Food Safety National Standard - Standard on the Uses of Additives in Food-Contact Materials and Articles> Implementation Guidance, is written in Chinese and has over 300 pages. It includes six chapters and four appendices:

• Chapter 1 – Overview, which briefly introduces the history, status, and role of the GB 9685 standard
• Chapter 2- Standard Amendment Summary, which discusses the background, principle, and overall process of GB 9685 amendment, as well as the major revisions in the 2016 version
• Chapter 3 – Standard Content Description, which describes each section of GB 9685-2016
• Chapter 4 – Overview of China’s Food-Related Product Management, which explains the management of food-related products in China and system of standards for food-related products
• Chapter 5 – Overview of Regulation of Food-Contact Materials in Foreign Countries, which introduced the food-contact regulations in the U.S., EU, Japan, Canada, and South Korea
• Appendix 1 – full text of Management Rules for the Administrative Approval of New Varieties of Food Related Products
• Appendix 2 – full text of Rules for the Petition and Acceptance of New Varieties of Food Related Products
• Appendix 3 – an English index of additives listed in GB 9685-2016
• Appendix 4 – new food-related products approved by NHFPC

Keller and Heckman will provide further information on this GB 9685 guidance shortly. As previously mentioned, GB 9685-2016 will become effective on October 19, 2017. (For more background information, see the Keller Heckman article, All Wrapped Up: China Finalizes Long-Awaited Standards for Food Packaging.)