Packaging / Advertising & Office

The new standard regulates the packaging requirements of 31 types of food and 16 types of cosmetics, and at the same time strictly limits the number of packaging layers. Food and processed products should not exceed three layers of packaging, and other foods and cosmetics should not exceed four layers. In order to avoid affecting production and business activities and generating new waste, the new standard sets a two-year transition period.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the phenomenon of over-packing and luxurious packaging of goods is on the rise again. Recently, the State Administration for Market Supervision has revised and issued a new mandatory national standard "Restriction of excessive packaging requirements for food and cosmetics". The standard is used as a starting point to reduce resource consumption and packaging waste generation from the source. It will start on September 1, 2023. Implement. What new changes will the new standard bring to the market?

Commodity packaging has the functions of protecting commodities, guiding consumption, and increasing the added value of products. However, excessive “color control” means that the merchants pass on the additional cost to consumers. "At present, some food and cosmetics companies in the market are pursuing high profits, and there are excessive packaging, environmental protection, and non-saving. The manifestations are too many packaging layers, excessive voids, and high costs, which exceed the basic packaging itself. It also damages the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.” said Chen Hongjun, deputy director of the Standards and Technology Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation. Research has shown that packaging waste in my country accounts for about 30% to 40% of urban domestic waste. Among these packaging waste, Most of them are produced by over-packaging.

In order to solve the problem of excessive packaging of food and cosmetics, the State Administration for Market Supervision (Standards Committee), in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments, organized relevant technical institutions to revise the 2009 version of the standard. Chen Hongjun introduced that the new standard regulates the packaging requirements of 31 types of food and 16 types of cosmetics, and strictly limits the number of packaging layers. Food and processed products should not exceed three layers of packaging, and other foods and cosmetics should not exceed four layers. . In addition, the calculation method of the packaging void ratio in the new standard solves the problem of evading supervision by increasing the initial packaging volume and adding other products. It also increases the detection of the outer packaging volume, the determination rules and the necessary space coefficients for different products, which is conducive to guiding green Production and consumption are also conducive to effective supervision.

The new standard sets a two-year transition period for enterprises and the market. What are the considerations? "After the release of the new standard, food and cosmetics manufacturers need to design compliance with product packaging in accordance with the requirements of the new standard. At the same time, they need to absorb inventory packaging and products for sale, especially cosmetics with a long shelf life and a consumption cycle in circulation. It is also relatively long. In order to avoid affecting production and business activities and generating new waste, a two-year transition period has been set up on the basis of extensively soliciting opinions from relevant industrial departments, industry associations and enterprises." Chen Hongjun said.

How can consumers quickly judge whether the packaging is excessive when buying food and cosmetic products? According to Wei Hong, deputy director of the Standards and Technology Department of the State Administration of Market Supervision, consumers can generally judge whether a product is excessively packaged through "one look, two questions, and three calculations". "One look" refers to whether the outer packaging of the product is luxurious packaging and whether the packaging materials are expensive materials; "second question" is to ask about the number of packaging layers without opening the packaging; "three calculations", It is to measure or estimate the outer packaging volume and compare it with the maximum allowable outer packaging volume to see if it exceeds the standard. As long as one of the above three aspects does not meet the requirements, it can be preliminarily determined as non-compliant.

Ma Aijin, a professor at the School of Food and Health of Beijing Technology and Business University, analyzed that, taking tea packaging as an example, the metal or plastic packaging directly in contact with the tea is the first layer, and the number of packaging layers is the number of packaging layers. At the same time, the material layer with the inherent properties of the product and the film that closely adheres to the sales package and has a thickness of less than 0.03 mm are not counted. For example, zong leaves, bamboo tubes, natural or collagen casings, and other material layers that belong to the inherent properties of the product.

"After the two-year transition period, the market will not allow the reproduction and sale of food and cosmetics that do not meet the new standards. We call on companies to rectify and meet the standards as soon as possible during the transition period. At the same time, we also call on consumers to avoid buying over-packaged products and act on their own. Practice the concept of green and low-carbon consumption." Chen Hongjun said.