GB 10769-2025National food safety standard - Cereal-based complementary foods for infants and young children (English PDF)

2 Terms and definitions

2.1 Older infant - a person aged 6 months to 12 months.

2.2 Young child - a person aged 12 months to 36 months.

2.3 Cereal-based complementary food for infants and young children - a complementary food made from one or more cereals, such as rice, wheat, millet, barley, oats, rye or maize, as the main raw material, in which the dry matter of the cereals accounts for 50 % or more of the total dry matter, with a suitable quantity of nutrient fortifiers and other food raw materials added, processed for consumption by older infants and young children aged 6 months to 36 months.

3 Product classification

3.1 Cereal-based complementary food for infants and young children - a cereal-based complementary food that may be reconstituted with milk or another suitable protein-containing liquid before being eaten, or that is ready to eat.

3.2 High-protein cereal-based complementary food for infants and young children - a cereal-based complementary food to which high-protein raw material has been added, reconstituted with water or another suitable protein-free liquid before being eaten, or ready to eat.

3.3 Raw cereal-based complementary food for infants and young children - a cereal-based complementary food that has to be cooked before it can be eaten.

3.4 Other cereal-based complementary food for infants and young children - a cereal-based complementary food that can be eaten directly, or that is crushed and then reconstituted with water, milk or another suitable liquid before being eaten, such as biscuits, teething rusks and others.

4 Technical requirements

4.1 Requirements for raw materials. The raw materials used shall meet the corresponding safety standards and the relevant provisions. They shall ensure the safety of the food for infants and young children and satisfy their nutritional needs, and no substance harmful to the nutrition and health of infants and young children shall be used. Hydrogenated fats and oils shall not be used. Irradiated raw materials shall not be used. Honey shall not be used.

4.2 Sensory requirements. The sensory requirements shall meet Table 1: the colour, the taste and odour, and the physical state shall be consistent with the characteristics of the product concerned, the product shall be free from foreign matter visible to normal eyesight, and the reconstitution behaviour shall be consistent with the characteristics of the product concerned.

4.3 Basic nutrient indices. The basic nutrient indices of the product shall meet Table 2. That table sets, for each of the four product categories, requirements for energy, protein, fat and, within the fat, linoleic acid, and for vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B1, vitamin C, calcium, iron, zinc and sodium, together with the method of determination for each item. The individual values are not reproduced here because several rows of the table carry merged cells and the values could not be paired with the four product columns with certainty in the source. The notes to the table state that where a product of these categories is in the ready-to-eat state, liquid or semi-solid, its energy value shall reach a stated minimum per 100 g; that where vitamin C is added to a raw cereal-based complementary food its content shall meet the requirement of Table 2 for cereal-based complementary food; that where vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin C, iron, zinc or other such nutrients are added to other cereal-based complementary food their contents shall meet the requirements of Table 2 for cereal-based complementary food; and that the requirement for linoleic acid applies only to products with a fat content above 0.8 g per 100 kJ in which lauric acid and myristic acid are each not more than 15 % of the total fat.

The note on energy states that the energy is calculated from the contents of protein, fat and carbohydrate per 100 g of product multiplied by the energy factors 17 kJ/g, 37 kJ/g and 17 kJ/g respectively, the energy factor for dietary fibre being 8 kJ/g, the sum being the value in kilojoules per 100 g, which divided by 4.184 gives the value in kilocalories per 100 g. The carbohydrate content is obtained by Formula (1), that is 100 minus the sum of the contents of protein, fat, moisture, ash and dietary fibre, all in grams per 100 g. The carbohydrate content may also be calculated by addition, determining the starch and the sugar contents separately and adding them. Where dietary fibre is not declared on the nutrition label, the dietary fibre need not be subtracted in the calculation of the carbohydrate.

4.4 Optional nutrient indices. In addition to the basic nutrient indices of 4.3, where one or more of the constituents of Table 3 are added to the product or declared on the label, their contents shall meet Table 3; where substances other than those of 4.3 and Table 3 are added to the product, the relevant national provisions apply. Table 3 gives, per 100 kJ with the value per 100 kcal in brackets, and the method of determination: vitamin E 0.08 to 1.20 mg alpha-TE, that is 0.33 to 5.02, by GB 5009.82; vitamin B2 13.0 to 95.6 micrograms, that is 54.4 to 400, by GB 5009.85; vitamin B6 8.4 to 83.6 micrograms, that is 35.1 to 350, by GB 5009.154; vitamin B12 0.02 to 0.20 micrograms, that is 0.08 to 0.8, by GB 5009.285; niacin or niacinamide 83.7 to 493.8 micrograms, that is 350.2 to 2066, by GB 5009.89; folic acid 1.2 to 11.9 micrograms, that is 5.0 to 50, by GB 5009.211; pantothenic acid 50.4 to 358.5 micrograms, that is 210.9 to 1500, by GB 5009.210; biotin 0.17 to 2.39 micrograms, that is 0.71 to 10, by GB 5009.259; phosphorus 8.4 to 30.0 mg, that is 35.1 to 125.5, by GB 5009.87; potassium 13 to 66 mg, that is 56 to 278, by GB 5009.91; magnesium 2.08 to 9.56 mg, that is 8.7 to 40, by GB 5009.241.

4.5 Where one or more of sucrose, fructose, glucose and glucose syrup are added to the product, the quantity added shall meet Table 4: the total quantity of added sucrose, fructose, glucose and glucose syrup shall be not more than 0.6 g per 100 kJ, that is 2.5 g per 100 kcal, calculated from the quantity added.

4.6 Other indices. These shall meet Table 5, which fixes for each of the four product categories a maximum moisture content in per cent, determined by GB 5009.3, and a maximum insoluble dietary fibre content of 5.0 % determined by GB 5413.6. The moisture values are not reproduced here because the row carries fewer entries than the four product columns and could not be paired with certainty in the source. The notes state that the moisture index does not apply to ready-to-eat cereal-based complementary food, liquid or semi-solid, and that the moisture index for teething rusks is not more than 10.0 %.

4.7 Limits of contaminants. These shall meet GB 2762.

4.8 Limits of mycotoxins. These shall meet GB 2761.

4.9 Microbiological limits. The limits for pathogenic bacteria shall meet GB 29921, and the other microbiological indices shall meet Table 6. In that table the sampling plan and the limits are expressed by the number of sample units, the maximum allowable number of sample units between the two limits, the lower limit and the upper limit: for the aerobic plate count, five sample units, two, 1000 and 10000, determined by GB 4789.2; for coliforms, five sample units, two, 10 and 100, determined by GB 4789.3 by the plate count method. The notes state that the collection and handling of the samples follow GB 4789.1; that unless otherwise specified the values are expressed in colony forming units per gram or per millilitre; that ready-to-eat cereal-based complementary food, liquid or semi-solid, shall meet the requirements for commercial sterility, tested by the method of GB 4789.26; and that the aerobic plate count does not apply to raw cereal-based complementary food nor to products to which live cultures, aerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria, have been added, the count of live bacteria in such products being required to be at least one million colony forming units per gram or per millilitre.

4.10 Food additives and nutrient fortifiers. The use of food additives and of nutrient fortifiers shall meet GB 2760 and GB 14880 respectively, together with the relevant announcements. The quality of the food additives and of the nutrient fortifiers shall meet the corresponding safety standards and the relevant provisions, together with the relevant announcements.

4.11 Urease activity. In products using soya beans or soya bean products as the protein source, the urease activity shall meet Table 7: the qualitative determination of urease activity shall be negative, determined by GB 5009.183. The note states that for ready-to-eat cereal-based complementary food, liquid or semi-solid, the size of the test portion shall be converted according to the dry matter content.

5 Other

5.1 Labelling. The label of the product shall meet GB 13432, and the declaration in the nutrition table shall additionally give the content per 100 kilojoules. The label shall state the category name of the product in accordance with 3.1 to 3.4, for example high-protein cereal-based complementary food for infants and young children. For the non ready-to-eat cereal-based complementary food of 3.1 the label shall state that the product may be reconstituted with milk or another suitable protein-containing liquid before being eaten, or words to the same effect.

5.2 Packaging. Carbon dioxide or nitrogen, or both, complying with the national food safety standards may be used as the packaging medium.