GB 31637-2025National food safety standard - Edible starch (English PDF)

1 Scope

The standard applies to edible starch.

2 Terms and definitions

2.1 Edible starch - native starch extracted by physical means from cereals, roots and tubers, pulses and other edible plants, or edible modified starch in which no new chemical group has been introduced into the starch molecule and the type of glycosidic bond in the starch molecule has not been changed, pregelatinised starch, heat-moisture treated starch, porous starch and soluble starch included.

2.2 Native starches. 2.2.1 Cereal starch - edible starch extracted from cereal plants such as maize, wheat and rice and not modified. 2.2.2 Root and tuber starch - edible starch extracted from root and tuber plants such as potato, cassava, sweet potato, yam, taro and lotus root and not modified. 2.2.3 Pulse starch - edible starch extracted from pulse plants such as pea, mung bean and broad bean and not modified. 2.2.4 Other starch - edible starch extracted from other plants and not modified.

2.3 Modified starches. 2.3.1 Pregelatinised starch - edible modified starch obtained by treating starch by drum drying, spray drying, extrusion drying or a similar process, which swells markedly or forms a gel-like dispersion on contact with cold water, and in which no new chemical group has been introduced and the type of glycosidic bond in the starch molecule has not been changed. 2.3.2 Other modified starch - other edible modified starch obtained by a physical or enzymatic process in which no new chemical group has been introduced into the starch molecule and the type of glycosidic bond has not been changed, such as heat-moisture treated starch, porous starch and soluble starch.

3 Technical requirements

3.1 Raw materials shall meet the relevant food standards and provisions.

3.2 Sensory requirements, given in Table 1. Colour: white or off-white, without abnormal colour. Smell: the smell proper to the product, without off-odour. Physical state: powder or granules, pregelatinised starch being allowed in flake form, without foreign matter visible to normal sight. The test method is to place a suitable quantity of sample in a clean dry white dish, a porcelain dish or a similar container, and to observe its colour and state and smell it in natural light.

3.3 Physical and chemical indicators, given in Table 2. Moisture, in grams per 100 g, determined as in GB 5009.3, with a separate limit for each kind of starch: cereal starch not more than 14.0; among the root and tuber starches, cassava starch not more than 15.0, sweet potato starch not more than 17.0, potato starch not more than 20.0, lotus root starch not more than 13.0 and other root and tuber starch not more than 18.0; pulse starch not more than 15.0; other starch not more than 18.0; and, among the modified starches, pregelatinised starch not more than 12.0. Hydrocyanic acid, in milligrams per kilogram, not more than 10.0, determined as in GB 5009.36, this line applying to cassava starch only.

3.4 Contaminant limits shall meet GB 2762.

3.5 Microbiological limits, given in Table 3: moulds and yeasts not more than 10 to the third power CFU/g, determined as in GB 4789.15, sampling and handling following GB 4789.1.

3.6 Food additives shall be used as provided in GB 2760 and food nutritional fortifiers as provided in GB 14880.