Recently, the National Food Safety Standard for Canned Food (GB 7098-2025) was released, with a transition period of one year, and will be officially implemented on March 11, 2026. The China Canned Food Industry Association stated that compared with GB 7098-2015, this revision mainly modifies the terminology and definitions, sensory requirements, histamine indicators, mold limits, etc. of canned food with easy open end, updates the inspection methods, and adds label labeling content, which will facilitate the implementation of standards and promote the healthy development of the canned food industry.
What impact will the newly released standards have on consumers? What changes have been reflected in the canned food industry by the adjustment of terminology definitions and other related content?
Implement the principle of 'Do not eat when the jar is swollen' in practice
Put the cleaned fruits into a bottle, add sugar, and steam them in a pot. The can is ready, but I always worry about poor sealing and problems. In fact, the bottle cap of the can I made myself bulged in less than a week. "Recently, Ms. Zhang, who lives in Shanxi, told reporters that she saw many videos of homemade cans on short video platforms and wanted to try making them herself, but the result was a bit unsatisfactory. In the end, she went to the supermarket to buy two cans. And this experience also sparked her strong interest in the methods that companies use to ensure the safety of canned food.
The reporter noticed that on various short video platforms, teaching videos on homemade canned food often change with the seasonal fruits. Recently, there have been many videos on homemade canned pineapple. The production of canned food is not simple. In the tutorial, it is basically mentioned that bottles need to be disinfected, pineapples need to be cooked, and after filling, they need to be steamed in a pot to eliminate the air in the bottle.
To ensure the food safety of consumers, the new national standard has added a requirement for canned food labels to include similar prompts such as' Do not eat when the can is swollen '.
What does the phrase 'Do not eat when the jar is swollen' reflect?
The new national standard specifies that bulging of cans (fat cans) is a phenomenon caused by chemical reactions, microbial activity, gas production, or physical reasons that create positive pressure inside the container, causing the cans (bags, bottles, cups, etc.) to protrude from one end/both ends/both sides of the packaging container. In terms of sensory indicators, it is also clear that container items must meet the requirements of "intact packaging container sealing, no leakage, and no swelling (fat listening)".
The China Canned Food Industry Association stated that in daily life, the phenomenon of the bottle cap of canned food packaged in glass bottles protruding from one end of the packaging container is called obesity. The appearance of "bulging cans" may pose food safety risks.
Qiu Kai, Secretary General of the Canned Food Sub Technical Committee of the National Food Industry Standardization Technical Committee, introduced that for example, biological expansion cans (bacterial expansion cans) contain bacteria or are contaminated with bacteria, causing the food inside the can to decompose, resulting in spoilage and loss of edible value. The main reasons for biological can swelling are that the raw materials are not fresh, the sterilization is not sufficient, the hygiene conditions are poor, and the can is poorly sealed, "Qiu Kai said." Chemical can swelling is mainly caused by organic acids in the raw materials of fruit and juice cans, which react with the inner wall surface of the can to produce hydrogen gas, causing the vacuum degree inside the can to disappear and the pressure to increase. Although the contents of these cans have not changed in quality and still have edible value, they cannot be sold as qualified products
In theory, as long as the packaging is not damaged, canned food can be permanently stored, "said Zhong Kai, director of the Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center. The shelf life depends on the physical and chemical properties and storage conditions of the food. Canned food generally has no food safety risks as long as it is not swollen, and its sterile state is extremely safe. If the jar is swollen, there may be spores such as Clostridium botulinum that survive and cannot be consumed.
Strict histamine limit
As an indicator that needs to be strictly monitored in canned aquatic products, the limit of histamine has a significant impact on both the industry and consumers. Generally speaking, trace amounts of histamine do not cause poisoning in humans, but when the dosage increases to a certain extent, it can cause allergic food poisoning.
The reporter noticed that the new national standard has modified the limit of histamine. This revision reduces the limit value of histamine index from the original standard of 1000mg/kg (100mg/100g) to 200mg/kg (20mg/100g). At the same time, the histamine limit was adjusted from "only applicable to canned mackerel, scad and sardine" to only applicable to canned high histamine fish. High histamine fish refer to mackerel, scad, mackerel, bonito, tuna, saury, mackerel, mackerel, herring, sardine and other green skinned red meat sea fish.
It is reported that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) held a joint expert meeting in June 2012 to conduct a risk assessment of biogenic amines in aquatic products and their products. The maximum limit of histamine in aquatic products and their products was calculated to be 200mg/kg.
When revising the standards in China, relevant inspections were conducted on samples of commercially available canned fish (including high histamine sea water canned fish, as well as other canned fish), and the limit value of histamine index was finally determined. The content of the standard revision is in line with China's national conditions and the actual development of the food industry, and also pays attention to the operability of the standards. The China Canned Food Industry Association introduced that the purpose of the standard revision is to ensure food safety and public health, with a focus on controlling food safety risk factors that may cause harm to human health, and scientifically and reasonably setting the standard content.
For many years, China has been the world's largest producer and exporter of canned food, accounting for about a quarter of the global output. In the current steady development of the canned food industry, the release of the new national standard means that the safety of canned food will be higher in the future, which will better meet consumers' demand for high-quality canned products.
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