A few days ago, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Announcement of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Strengthening the Quality and Safety Supervision of Soy Sauce and Vinegar (Draft for Comments)", which requires that raw materials such as acid hydrolyzed plant protein flavoring solution should not be used to prepare and produce soy sauce, and raw materials such as glacial acetic acid should not be used to produce vinegar; condiments that do not meet the national standards for food safety of soy sauce and vinegar must not be marked with the names or categories of "soy sauce" and "vinegar".
In fact, since December 21, 2019, the new national standard "National Standard for Food Safety, Soy Sauce" and "National Standard for Food Safety Vinegar" have been clearly stipulated: the preparation of soy sauce and prepared vinegar do not belong to the categories of soy sauce and vinegar, and are managed according to compound seasonings.
The implementation of the above-mentioned new national standard has been nearly a year and a half, and the Beijing News reporter recently visited the market and found that there are still products marked with the words "prepared vinegar" and "prepared soy sauce". Industry insiders said that due to the long shelf life of products, there are still some legacy products on the market that need to be digested. At present, the industry is in the process of adjustment and upgrading, and many companies that used to specialize in the production of condiments are adjusting their production lines and no longer producing prepared vinegar and soy sauce.
Preparation of soy sauce Preparation of vinegar is no longer soy sauce, vinegar
On April 9 this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Announcement of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Strengthening the Quality and Safety Supervision of Soy Sauce and Vinegar (Draft for Comments) (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft Opinion"), which pointed out that the production of soy sauce and vinegar should have a complete fermentation and brewing process, and must not use raw materials such as acid hydrolyzed plant protein seasoning solution to prepare and produce soy sauce, and must not use raw materials such as glacial acetic acid to produce vinegar; and condiments that do not meet the national standards for food safety of soy sauce and vinegar must not be labeled with the names or categories of "soy sauce" and "vinegar".
In fact, for a long time in the past, soy sauce and vinegar categories included brewing soy sauce and brewing vinegar, as well as soy sauce with acid hydrolyzed plant protein flavoring solution, and preparation vinegar with glacial acetic acid or glacial acetic acid.
In 2018, new national standards were announced, and the entire industry faced new adjustments. In July 2018, the National Health Commission and the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration issued the National Standard for Food Safety Soy Sauce (GB 2717-2018), which deleted the preparation of soy sauce and stipulated that it is not allowed to use raw materials such as acid hydrolyzed plant protein seasoning solution to prepare and produce soy sauce. Soy sauce should be soybeans, wheat, etc. as the main raw materials, through microbial fermentation made of condiments, with a complete fermentation brewing process.
The National Standard for Food Safety Vinegar (GB 2719-2018) issued at the same time stipulates that vinegar (including sweet vinegar) is a condiment made of materials containing starch and sugar and alcohol or edible alcohol, which are fermented by microorganisms. The standard deletes the preparation of vinegar, changes the brewing vinegar to vinegar, and requires that vinegar production should have a complete fermentation brewing process, and must not use raw materials such as glacial acetic acid to produce vinegar.
The two new national standards were officially implemented on December 21, 2019. The standard clearly mentions in the "Impact on Enterprises and Related Suggestions" that the preparation of soy sauce and the preparation of vinegar produced by the preparation process will be managed according to the compound seasoning, and will no longer belong to the category of "soy sauce" and "vinegar", and the words "soy sauce" and "vinegar" will no longer be allowed on the label. Therefore, the impact on the preparation of soy sauce and prepared vinegar production enterprises is relatively large, the preparation of soy sauce and vinegar must be renamed; the operation and use of the preparation of soy sauce enterprise units also have an impact, should do a good job of label changes, labeling the product label packaging materials of the preparation of soy sauce pay attention to control the inventory, so as to avoid the implementation of the new standard when the packaging materials are not used up and caused by waste.
The phenomenon of "vinegar" in formulated products still exists
Although the new standard has been officially implemented since December 21, 2019, a reporter from the Beijing News recently visited the market and inquired about the online platform and found that there are still some formulated products on the market that use the words "white vinegar" and "vinegar" on the packaging.
On April 28, a reporter from the Beijing News found a "rooster" glutinous rice white vinegar king nominally produced by Guangzhou Zhimeizhai Food Co., Ltd. on the 1688 platform, which contained glacial acetic acid in the ingredient list and the bottle body was marked with the words "prepared vinegar".
In the Tmall platform Dingfeng flagship store, a nominal "Dingfeng" 5-degree white vinegar (500ml) produced by Shanghai Dingfeng Brewing Food Co., Ltd. also shows that it contains glacial acetic acid in the product ingredient list, and the side of the bottle is marked with the words "prepared vinegar".
There is also a similar product on the official website of Shanghai Dingfeng Brewing Food Co., Ltd., the product name is Shanghai Dingfeng white vinegar, but the product ingredients include brewed vinegar, glacial acetic acid, etc., although named "white vinegar", in fact, the seasoning is formulated. The implementation standard is SB/T10337. Upon enquiry, SB/T10337 is the "SB/T10337-2012 Preparation of Vinegar" formulated in 2012, which is currently in a state of abolition.
According to the company's official website, Shanghai Dingfeng Brewing Food Co., Ltd. was founded in 1864 and is a long-established enterprise in China. In response to the above situation, on April 28, a reporter from the Beijing News called the company according to the contact information of the official website, and the phone has been unanswered.
In terms of offline market, on April 16, a reporter from the Beijing News found a "winning" Shanghai white vinegar (500ml, 2019/9/12) produced by Suzhou Haoweijia Food Co., Ltd. near Ciqikou in Beijing's Dongcheng District, and the ingredient list contained glacial acetic acid (also known as "glacial acetic acid"), and the small characters of the product label were marked with the words "prepared vinegar".
In addition, there are some products that meet the regulations themselves, but mislead consumers in the sales process such as shelf placement. In the Happiness glory supermarket, the Beijing News reporter saw a product of "vinegar essence acetic acid sauce" (500ml) produced by Shanghai Baoding Brewing Co., Ltd. on the vinegar shelf. The ingredient list contains water, glacial acetic acid, etc., and the applicable product standard is GB31644, that is, the National Standard for Food Safety Compound Seasoning (GB 31644-2018). However, on display, it is placed on the vinegar shelf and sold with other brewed vinegar products, which can easily mislead consumers.
As for the "prepared soy sauce", the Beijing News reporter did not see it in the market visit, and only saw the prepared sauce produced in Japan and Taiwan on the e-commerce platform.
A condiment business person told the Beijing News reporter that at present, most of the regular condiment companies are producing brewed soy sauce, preparation of soy sauce is rare, some Japanese brands, Taiwanese brands have produced some prepared soy sauce products.
The industry is in the process of adjustment and upgrading
In accordance with the requirements of the State Administration for Market Regulation in this draft opinion, in the future, local market supervision departments should strengthen the supervision and inspection of soy sauce and vinegar producers and operators, and organize the supervision and sampling of soy sauce and vinegar products and risk monitoring. Investigate and deal with illegal acts such as the use of raw materials such as acid hydrolyzed plant protein flavoring solution to prepare and produce soy sauce, the use of raw materials such as glacial acetic acid to prepare and produce vinegar, as well as the failure to change food production licenses in a timely manner, and false labeling of product labels. Where a crime is suspected, it is to be transferred to the public security organs.
In terms of enterprises, a condiment industry practitioner told the Beijing News reporter that since the implementation of the new national standard, many companies that used to specialize in the production of condiments are adjusting their production lines and no longer producing prepared vinegar and formulating soy sauce.
However, Zhang Ji, chief consultant of Shanghai Zhihui Marketing Consulting Co., Ltd., told the Beijing News reporter that the new national standard for soy sauce and vinegar was implemented from December 21, 2019, because the shelf life of vinegar and soy sauce is generally two or three years, and there will be some legacy products in the market that need a digestion process.
Zhang Ji said that the gradual implementation of the national standard for soy sauce and vinegar and related regulations will force enterprises to more standardize the production of compound seasonings, and will also allow enterprises to start thinking about category upgrades, upgrading production equipment and technological reforms, and producing and brewing vinegar, soy sauce, etc. Some enterprises themselves are not mature in brewing technology, and they still need a cycle to slowly adapt.
Beijing News reporter Liu Huan
Edited by Zhu Fenglan Proofreader Zhao Lin