Gelatin can be divided into photographic gelatin, edible gelatin and industrial gelatin according to its performance and use. Depending on the use, the quality requirements for gelatin are different. When used as a binder, the bond strength is mainly required. When used in photography, food, medicine and other fields, the purity of the product is emphasized.
Customs inspection and supervision requirements for imported gelatin
1. Registration and filing According to the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Inspection and Quarantine of Import and Export Feed and Feed Additives, the General Administration of Customs implements a registration system for production enterprises in countries or regions that allow the import of feed and feed additives, so the imported gelatin for feeding should come from registered overseas production enterprises. The list of registered enterprises is published in the "Enterprise Information" column of the Department of Animals and Plants of the General Administration of Customs.
The Customs implements filing management for feed import enterprises, and the importing enterprises shall file with the local customs through "Internet + Customs" before or at the time of the first declaration.
2. Quarantine approval
According to the Announcement of the General Administration of Customs on Canceling the Quarantine Examination and Approval of Animals and Plants Entering the Country for Some Products (Announcement [2018] No. 51), from June 1, 2018, the import of gelatin does not need to implement quarantine examination and approval of imported animals and plants, and relevant enterprises do not need to apply for quarantine permits for imported animals and plants before importing, but the goods should be declared to the Customs in accordance with the regulations when they enter the country, and they shall be inspected and quarantined according to law.
3. Prohibited access
Gelatin (for feeding) must not come from the relevant animal disease endemic countries and regions, and the epidemic situation information can be inquired through the "Quarantine Requirements and Warning Information" column of the Department of Animals and Plants of the General Administration of Customs.
4. Declaration
◆ When imported gelatin is declared through the single window system, the correct name of the goods and the inspection and quarantine code should be selected according to the actual use of the product.
◆ For the gelatin declared for human food or animal feed additives and raw materials, when declaring to the customs, it must be indicated that it is used for human food processing or for animal feed processing. Food additive gelatin should fill in the remarks column "food additive", and select "food additive" in the cargo use column.
◆ For the declaration of gelatin that is only used for industrial purposes and is not used for human food or animal feed additives and raw materials, the enterprise must submit a trade contract and a certificate of non-use for human food and animal feed additives and raw material products. Industrial gelatin select "Industrial Use" in the Cargo Use column.
◆ The outer packaging must be printed with the purpose of the product (for food processing or animal feed processing or only for industrial use and not for human food or animal feed additives and raw materials), and the printed content must be consistent with the purpose declared to the customs.
◆ Imported food additive gelatin shall be accompanied by qualified certification materials.
5. The quality and safety standard requirements of gelatin
Due to the different types and uses of gelatin, its raw material requirements are not the same, China's national standards or industry standards for different types of gelatin raw materials have been specified in detail.
(1) Raw material requirements
(2) Sensory requirements
(3) Physical and chemical indicators
(4) Physical and chemical indicators of medical gelatin
(5) Microbiological indicators
6. Follow-up supervision
◆ Feed gelatin import enterprises shall establish business files to record the declaration number, product name, number/weight, packaging, export country or region, foreign exporter, name of overseas production enterprise and its registration number, "Inspection and Quarantine Certificate of Imported Goods", import feed flow and other information of imported gelatin, and the record retention period shall not be less than 2 years.
◆ Enterprises that import food gelatin shall establish gelatin quality information files and truthfully record the following:
(1) The customs declaration number, product name, number/weight, packaging, production and export country or region, production date, shelf life and other contents declared to the Customs at the time of import;
(2) The name of the foreign exporter or overseas production enterprise and the qualification certificate number obtained in the country or region where they are located;
(3) Samples of label samples and Chinese instructions for imported food additives Chinese;
(4) Inspection and quarantine certificates issued by the Customs;
(5) Information such as the flow of imported food additives.
The retention period of the archives shall not be less than 2 years and shall not be less than the shelf life.
Risk Warning
Industrial gelatin is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye, and its products contain heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury, lead, chromium and other excess heavy metals or residual chemical components, which enter the human body to destroy human bones and hematopoietic stem cells, and long-term use will lead to osteoporosis, and even bring carcinogenic hidden dangers. Many unscrupulous merchants illegally use cheap industrial gelatin instead of food gelatin, which brings huge safety risks to consumers' personal health. Therefore, industrial gelatin was included in the "blacklist" of the National Health and Family Planning Commission's "List of Non-edible Substances and Food Additives That May Be Illegally Added to Food (Third Batch)".
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Poison capsule incident
On April 15, 2012, CCTV's "Weekly Quality Report" exposed that some enterprises in Hebei used quicklime to decolorize and bleach leather waste ("blue alum skin") for decolorization and cleaning, and then boiled into industrial gelatin, which was sold to pharmaceutical capsule manufacturers in Xinchang County, Zhejiang Province, and eventually flowed to pharmaceutical enterprises. After investigation, it was found that the heavy metal chromium content of capsules used in 13 batches of drugs in 9 pharmaceutical factories exceeded the standard, of which the maximum exceeded the standard by more than 90 times.
Gelatin skin jelly
On May 6, 2016, the public security organs of Tonghua, Jilin Province, cracked a case of producing and selling toxic and harmful food, seized 64 tons of gelatin used in the production and processing of toxic and harmful food industry, involving an amount of nearly 100 million yuan, and criminals purchased industrial gelatin from Shanxi and other places, and sold it to Beijing, Hebei, Liaoning and other places by exchanging edible gelatin packaging for sale made of jelly and cold skin