In recent years, imported beverages have been favored by consumers due to their rich flavor, innovative ideas and precise positioning, becoming the new favourite of major merchants and online shopping platforms. However, imported beverages are a lot of procedures, requiring enterprises to strictly follow relevant regulations and processes. This article will explore in depth the indicators requirements of imported beverages, labeling requirements and import processes, hoping to help relevant enterprises.

Requirements for Indicators

According to the "Food Safety National Standard Drinks" (GB 7101-2022), a beverage is a product with one or more edible raw materials, adding or not adding additives, food additives, food nutritional enhancers, processed into quantitative packaging, for direct drinking or boiling drink, ethanol content not exceeding the quality score of 0.5%, can also be called a beverage.

The General Rules for Beverages (GB/T 10789) divide beverages into 11 categories, including packaged drinking water, fruit and vegetable juices and their beverages, protein beverages, carbonated beverages (soda), special use beverages, flavored beverages, tea (class) beverages, coffee (class) beverages, plant beverages, solid beverages and other categories.

Sensory Requirements

• Color that this product should have.
• No smell or odor.
• Without normal vision, foreign objects can be seen.
• Liquid beverage state uniform, solid beverages without clots

Requirements for rationalized indicators

• After the dilution of solid beverages and concentrated beverages according to the marking proportions of the product label:
  • Zinc, copper, iron ≤20mg/L (only for metal-contained fruit and vegetable juice drinks)
  • Hydroxide (HCN) ≤0.05mg/L (applicable only to beverages with almonds as raw materials)
  • Phosphate test: negative (only for beverages made from soybeans)

Requirements for microbial indicators

• Pathogenic limits should comply with the provisions of the National Standard on Food Safety (GB 29921).
• Commercially sterilized products must meet the requirements of commercial sterilization.
• Non-commercial sterile products, their total number of bacteria, large intestinal bacteria, mold, yeast should comply with the requirements of the national food safety standard "Drinks" (GB 7101).

Other indicators requirements

• Contaminant limits must comply with the provisions of the National Standard on Food Safety (GB2762)
• The limits of fungal toxins must comply with the provisions of the National Standard on Food Safety (GB2761)
• Pesticide residue limits shall comply with the provisions of the National Standard on Food Safety (GB 2763).

Requirements for labelling of imported drinks

Do imported beverages have to have Chinese labels?

According to Article 97 of the Food Safety Law, imported pre-packaged foods and food additives shall have Chinese labels, and if there are instructions in accordance with law, there shall also be Chinese instructions.

Should that be on the label?

According to the requirements of the GB7718-2011 standard, imported pre-packaged food labels should mainly label the following basic information:

• Food Name
• Table of ingredients
• Net content and specifications
• Name of the country or region of origin
• Name, address and contact details of agents, importers or distributors registered in China according to law
• Production date and shelf life
• Conditions of storage
• Food production license
• The product standard

Do imported beverage labels have to be printed on the packaging?

Food Chinese labels are divided into two forms:

• One is to print or print text, graphics, symbols on food packaging.
• The other is to print separately paper tags, plastic film tags, etc., and then paste on the food packaging.

Article 30 The Chinese labels for imported health foods and special meal foods must be printed on the minimum sales packaging and must not be attached.

Requirements for labelling

• Highlight “sugar-free”: the content is stated on the label, and sugar content ≤ 0.5g/100g (100mL) can be declared as “sugar-free”.
• Bacterial products: the label must indicate "bacterial (non-bacterial) type or non-bacterial (bacterial) type"; adding lactic acid bacteria to the label of bacterial products to indicate "bacterial content of lactic acid", the number of lactic acids should not be less than 106CFU / g (ml).

Importation Process of Drinks

Registration of overseas production enterprises

Before the export of foreign beverage production enterprisesImported foodThe application for registration of overseas producing enterprises can be registered on the website of the General Administration of Customs of China.After the successful registration of overseas producing enterprises has obtained the registration number in China, the product can be exported to China.

Registration of Importers

Importers must apply to the customs authorities of their place of residence to process the imported food importers registration, the parties can carry out the imported food business. Food importers registration can log in to the website of the General Administration of China Customs, submit the application online, while submitting the required paper materials to the customs authorities of their place of residence.

Declaration of import

At the time of customs declaration, the name of the goods, the brand, the country of origin (region), the specification, number/weight, gross value, date of production (batch number) and other provisions of the General Administration of Customs shall be true.

Field inspection and supervision

In accordance with the requirements of supervision and administration, customs carries out on-site inspection of imported foods.Customs carries out the annual national imported food safety supervision sample inspection plan, in accordance with a certain proportion to inspect the Chinese label, microorganisms, pollutants, food additives and nutrition enhancers of imported beverages to meet the standard requirements.

Evaluation of Qualification

If the imported food has passed the customs qualification assessment, it shall be allowed to import; if the imported food has passed the customs qualification assessment and it is not qualified, the customs shall issue a certificate of non-compliance; if the safety, health and environmental protection projects are not qualified, the customs shall notify the food importer in writing, order it to be destroyed or returned; if the other items are not qualified, the technical processing shall comply with the requirements of the qualifying assessment, the import shall be ordered.

Follow-up supervision

The customs authorities shall carry out supervisory inspections on the recording of the imports and sales records of beverage products and the imports and sales records within their jurisdiction, and require them to establish a food imports and sales records system, to record the relevant information on food imports and sales in writing or electronically, and the recording and certificate retention period shall not be less than six months after the expiry of the food shelf life; without a clear shelf life period, the retention period shall be more than two years after the sale.

Conclusion

The market prospects for imported beverages are broad, but its complex clearance processes and strict labelling requirements require enterprises to be well prepared in advance to ensure that each link goes smoothly. This article details the rules for imported beverages from the three aspects of indicator requirements, labeling requirements and importation process, helping enterprises better understand and respond to the various challenges in the importation process. If you have a need for imported beverages, Universal Clothing will provide you with professional agency services to ensure your products go smoothly and quickly into the market.