Background
Imported pet food shall have a Chinese label sticker on the packaging or directly print the Chinese information on the packaging before being imported to Chinese market. The label of pet food shall comply with “Provision on Pet Food Labeling”.
To view the full Imported Pet Food compliance procedure, please click HERE.
To view the Food and Food Label Compliance, please click HERE.
Mandatory Information for The Label of Imported Pet Food
* Items which are not required for other pet food (pet snacks)
Product Name
The generic name is recognized as the product name of pet food, which shall be indicated on the main display layout of the label. The font, size and color of the generic name shall be consistent, and no part of the name can be highlighted or emphasized.
In addition to the generic name, trade name may also be used. However, it shall be placed after or under the generic name, and its font size shall not be larger than that of general name.
Pet food category | Examples of product name (generic name) |
---|---|
Pet compound feed (usually refer to “complete pet food”) |
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Pet feed additive premix (usually refer to “food supplements”) |
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Other Pet food (usually refer to “pet snacks”) |
|
List of Raw Materials and Additives
I. List of raw materials: the raw materials can be expressed in ingredient names or category names. While using the ingredient names, they shall be exactly consistent with names listed in the “Catalogue of Feed Materials”. While using the category names, the specific names are listed as follows. All ingredients shall be listed in descending order of their weights added in the preparation of the product.
S.N. | Category name of raw materials | S.N. | Category name of raw materials |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Cereals and their products | 8 | Dairies and their products |
2 | Oil seeds and their products | 9 | Meats and their products |
3 | Leguminous seeds and their products | 10 | Insects and their products |
4 | Fruit and vegetable seeds and their products | 11 | Eggs and their products |
5 | Natural plants and their products | 12 | Fish, other aquatic organisms and their products |
6 | Forage and their products | 13 | Minerals |
7 | Algae and their products | 14 | Microbial fermentation products |
II. List of additives: the additive names shall be exactly consistent with names listed in the “Catalogue of Feed Additives”. Antioxidants, coloring agents, flavorings and feed attractants can be expressed in their category names.
Guaranteed Values of Product Analytical Composition
The guaranteed value is the nutrition information and quality commitment of the product. The minimum items which shall be included on the label of pet food are specified in the following table.
Pet food category | Minimum items to be included on the label |
---|---|
Pet compound feed | Crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, water content, crude ash, calcium, total phosphorus, water-soluble chloride (count as Cl-), lysine (for dog food), and taurine (for cat food) |
Pet feed additive premix | Water content, the major nutritional feed additives added in the product |
Other pet food | Water content |
Matters Need Attention
Products containing animal derived ingredients (except dairy and dairy products) shall be marked with "This product shall not be fed to ruminants".
Production Date & Expiry Date
I. Production date: it shall include the year, month and day information. The indicating ways can be various, such as: "production date (year/month/day): 2010年3月20日", "production date (month/day/year): 03/20/2010", "production date (day/month/year): 20 03 2010", etc.
II. Expiry date: it can be printed in different ways, such as “shelf life: 6 months”, “shelf life: 2 years”, “expiry date (year/month/day): 2012年3月10日”, “best before March 19, 2012”, etc.
III. Where the date is indicated by making reference to a specific place of the package, this specific place of the package shall be indicated. For example, “production date (day/month/year): see the bottom”.
Net Weight
Net weight and product name shall be labeled on the same display layout of the packaging (container).
Certification of Product Quality Inspection
The certification of product quality inspection shall be attached or printed on the label. When it is printed on the label, it can be designed in different forms such as printing a text box with the words of "pass the inspection".
Other Optional Contents
When meeting the claim requirements of “Provision on Pet Food Labeling”, ingredient claims, function claims, and characteristic claims can be made on the label of pet food. But it must be noted that,
1) All claims shall be supported by evidential materials;
2) It is prohibited to claim that the product has the effect of preventing or treating pet diseases.
Examples of some common claims which are allowed
Examples of claims | Detailed explanation |
---|---|
Beef recipe | The weight of beef is more than 26% of the total weight of the product |
Recipe with beef | The weight of beef is more than 14% of the total weight of the product |
Contain beef | The weight of beef is more than 4% of the total weight of the product |
Beef flavor | The raw material, compounded flavor or flavor enhancer can give the product a flavor of beef |
Natural preservatives | The preservatives used in the product were obtained by non-chemical methods, or only by physical methods, heat treatment, extraction, purification, hydrolysis, enzymolysis, fermentation or smoking treatments |
Fresh chicken | The chicken used in the product goes only through refrigeration which does not include cooking, drying, freezing, hydrolysis or other processes, without adding sodium chloride, preservatives or other similar additives |
Low fat |
“Water content is <20%, and fat content is ≤9%”, or “water content is between 20-65%, and fat content is ≤7%”, or “water content is >65%, and fat content is ≤4%”
“Water content is <20%, and fat content is ≤10%”, or “water content is between 20-65%, and fat content is ≤8%”, or “water content is >65%, and fat content is ≤5%” |
Prevention of hairball | Prevent non-disease problems |
…… | …… |
CIRS Services
Compliance Procedure and Service of Imported Pet Food
Confirm the pet food category
Review if the fee raw material and feed additive used are allowed to use or not, meanwhile, review the use level
If anything incorrect, provide the revision suggestions
Label Review of Pet Food in China
Confirm the pet food category
Review the original label and Chinese label, and provide revision suggestions
Design Chinese standard label
MARA Imported Pet Food Registration Service
As the agent register pet food with MARA
Arrange sample clearance and sample test