Agriculture & Food

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, recently, the National Health Commission and the State Administration of Market Supervision jointly released the National Food Safety Standard for Processed Cheese and Cheese Products (GB25192-2022). According to the new national standard, the processed cheese products are divided into processed cheese and cheese products according to the proportion of raw cheese. The proportion of cheese used in the processed cheese is adjusted from more than 15% to more than 50%, and the proportion of cheese used between 15% and 50% can be called cheese products.

Industry insiders believe that the release of the new national standard puts forward higher requirements for enterprises producing processed cheese, further improves the quality of processed cheese products, helps regulate the market for processed cheese and cheese products, and meets the diversified needs of consumers. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Adjust the classification of processed cheese products

The new national standard issued this time will replace GB25192-2010 National Food Safety Standard Reprocessed Cheese, and will be implemented from December 30, 2022.

According to Euromonitor International, the proportion of processed cheese in China will reach 80% in 2021. The reason why consumers buy cheese is not only smooth and delicate, but also nutritional value. According to the observation of Huacheng's import and export data, the new national standard has significantly increased the proportion of cheese in processed cheese, from more than 15% to more than 50%, and has refined the classification of processed cheese products, which are divided into processed cheese and cheese products according to the proportion of raw cheese. Among them, processed cheese is defined as the finished product made by heating, stirring, emulsifying (drying) and other processes with cheese (more than 50%) as the main raw material, adding other raw materials, adding or not adding food additives and nutritional fortifiers. Cheese products are defined as finished products made by heating, stirring, emulsifying (drying) and other processes with cheese (15% - 50%) as the main raw material, with other raw materials added, with or without food additives and nutritional fortifiers added.

Wang Dingmian, former executive director of China Dairy Association and former president of Guangzhou Dairy Association, believed that the definition of processed cheese and cheese products by cheese content was to improve the quality of processed cheese. The new national standard solves the problem of product positioning of cheese products with only 15% - 50% cheese added, and further integrates with international similar product standards.

According to the observation report of Huacheng import and export data, the new national standard also modifies the expression of sensory requirements. Due to the wide variety of processed cheese and cheese products, their color, taste, smell and tissue state are different, which cannot be described uniformly. Therefore, the new national standard changes the sensory requirements to have the normal color of such products, the unique taste and smell of such products, and the tissue state that such products should have. The new national standard adds the requirements for the state of powder products, specifically "state: it has the organizational state that this type of product should have, and can have visible particles of raw materials related to product taste; powder products are dry and uniform powder; there is no foreign impurities visible with normal vision". In addition, the new national standard also revised the requirements for microbial indicators and deleted the limit requirements for yeast.

New product label identification requirements

In order to facilitate consumers' cognition and purchase of processed cheese and cheese products, the new national standard has added requirements for product label identification, including identification of "cheese use proportion", identification of "processed cheese" or "cheese products", and identification of transportation and storage temperature, so as to ensure the safety of food reasonably stored during transportation and after consumers' purchase.

At present, there are many types of processed cheese products, such as cheese chips, cheese sticks, etc. Among them, cheese stick is a star product in recent years. How about the "cheese use proportion" and other labels of cheese stick products on the market?

According to the observation report of Huacheng import and export data, many products have been marked with cheese content. For example, Miaoke Lando has many products with more than 50% cheese content, including gold cheese stick, zero added cheese stick, and small cheese cow normal temperature cheese stick; Yili's yellow peach flavor oats product is marked with "cheese content ≥ 51%" in large font on the front of the outer package; Miaofei 0 sugar cheese stick is marked with "cheese addition ≥ 55%"; A 90g gold bar for Doctor Cheese is marked with "cheese addition ≥ 55%".

At present, the products with cheese content less than 50% have not been marked with "cheese products". For example, Bagtiff's one kind of fruit stick cheese has not been directly marked with cheese content, but is marked with "total milk solid content ≥ 25.8%", and its product category is still reprocessed cheese. In addition, the main products of some brands are not marked with cheese content.

Wang Dingmian said that the requirements for product labels and identifications added in the new national standard are conducive to consumers' correct understanding of product information. At present, the new national standard has not been implemented. According to the current standard, the amount of cheese added in processed cheese products can only be more than 15%.

It forces enterprises to attach importance to innovative R&D

Cheese has always been a niche category in China's dairy industry. Driven by cheese stick category, domestic cheese consumption has grown rapidly in recent two years. Data shows that in 2021, the total market volume of processed cheese will double in only two years. With the rapid development of cheese, the more serious homogenization phenomenon has also been criticized. What impact will the introduction of the new national standard bring to the cheese industry?

"I have always suggested that enterprises use domestic raw milk fermented cheese and increase the cheese content." Wang Dingmian said that the new national standard officially implemented at the end of this year stipulates that the proportion of processed cheese is adjusted from more than 15% to more than 50%, which puts forward higher requirements for enterprises producing processed cheese. It is suggested that enterprises should increase product research and development efforts to meet the taste demand while increasing the cheese content.

Miaoke Blue said in many aspects that it is a general trend to increase the proportion of cheese against the cheese development history of Japan, South Korea and other countries. The new national standard will further standardize the cheese market, improve the development level of the industry, and promote the product grading of the remanufactured cheese market. Looking at the cheese industry in China, the consumption upgrading of dairy products has brought about the rapid expansion of the cheese market in recent years. The introduction of the new national standard will accelerate the maturity of the market. The improvement of Chinese cheese consumption is the direction of joint efforts of industry brands.

The introduction of the new national standard provides the industry with space for innovation and development. Song Liang, the leader of the expert group of China Agricultural Reclamation Dairy Alliance, said that the quality of processed cheese products was indeed improved after the requirements for the cheese proportion of processed cheese were increased. However, adding more cheese does not mean that the processed cheese will taste better. Therefore, the new national standard will force enterprises to pay more attention to product innovation and upgrading in addition to brand and channel competition. For consumers, the choice of cheese products will be wider, which will effectively promote healthy and orderly competition in the industry.