Requirements for review of production licenses for fruit and vegetable juices and beverages

Section 1 Scope of License

Article 72 Fruit and vegetable juice and its beverage products subject to food production license management include liquid beverages made from fruits and (or) vegetables (including edible roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits) or their concentrated juice (pulp) as raw materials, processed or fermented, excluding fruit-flavored beverages with less than 5% original fruit (vegetable) juice (pulp). The category number of fruit and vegetable juice and its beverage production license is 0604, including: fruit and vegetable juice (pulp), concentrated fruit and vegetable juice (pulp), fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) beverages.

Article 73 Fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) refers to fermentable but unfermented juice and slurry products made from fruits or vegetables as raw materials by physical methods (mechanical methods, water extraction, etc.); or juice and slurry products made by adding an equal amount of water removed during the processing of concentrated fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) to reconstitute it, such as original fruit juice (non-reconstituted juice), fruit juice (reconstituted juice), vegetable juice, fruit slurry (vegetable slurry), combined fruit and vegetable juice, etc.

Article 74 Concentrated fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) refers to a product made from fruit or vegetables as raw materials, by removing a certain amount of water from fruit juice (pulp) or vegetable juice (pulp) extracted by physical methods, and having the characteristics of fruit juice (pulp) or vegetable juice (pulp) after adding the same amount of water removed during the processing. Products containing no less than two concentrated fruit juices (pulps), or concentrated vegetable juices (pulps), or concentrated fruit juices (pulps) and concentrated vegetable juices (pulps) are concentrated compound fruit and vegetable juices (pulps).

Article 75 Fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) beverages refer to products made from fruit and vegetable juices (pulps) and concentrated fruit and vegetable juices (pulps) as raw materials, with or without the addition of other food raw materials and (or) food additives, such as: fruit and vegetable juice beverages, pulp (pulp) beverages, compound fruit and vegetable juice beverages, fruit and vegetable juice beverage concentrates, fermented fruit and vegetable juice beverages, fruit beverages, etc.

Section 2 Production Site Inspection

Article 76 Production workshops are generally divided into: non-food production and processing areas (offices, power distribution, power equipment, inspection rooms, etc.), general operation areas (cleaning areas for fruits and vegetables as raw materials, water treatment areas, storage areas, outer packaging areas, etc.), quasi-clean operation areas (sterilization areas, ingredient areas, pre-packaging cleaning and disinfection areas, etc.), and clean operation areas (filling protection areas) according to their cleanliness requirements. For the production of concentrated liquids (juices, pulps) for the food industry, a raw material cleaning area should also be set up (effectively isolated from subsequent processes). For those with post-sterilization processes, the filling protection area can be set up in the "quasi-clean operation area" and the sterilization area can be set up in the "general operation area".

Article 77 A changing room, hand washing, hand drying and disinfection facilities, and shoe changing (wearing shoe covers) or work shoe and boot disinfection facilities should be set up at the entrance of the production site or production workshop.

Article 78 The entrance of the clean work area should be equipped with a secondary changing area, hand washing, hand drying and (or) disinfection facilities, shoe changing (wearing shoe covers) or work shoe disinfection facilities; the clean work area should meet the corresponding air cleanliness requirements and be a 100,000-level clean workshop. The above requirements can be exempted if one of the following conditions is met: use of filling equipment with A Clean Room and clean environment automatic recovery function; use of filling equipment that performs filling and capping (sealing) in a sterile and closed environment; non-direct drinking products [such as concentrated liquid (juice, pulp) for the food industry, concentrated beverage pulp for the food industry).

Article 79 Quasi-clean work areas and clean work areas should be relatively closed and equipped with air handling devices and air disinfection facilities.

Section 3 Equipment and Facility Verification

Article 80 Production equipment shall be equipped according to actual process needs, generally including: fruit (vegetable) pretreatment facilities (applicable to direct fruit and vegetables as raw materials), juicers or pulpers (applicable to direct fruit and vegetables as raw materials), water treatment equipment, blending facilities (needed to be blended), storage, sterilization equipment, automatic filling and capping equipment, automatic inkjet equipment, pipeline equipment cleaning and disinfection facilities.

The production equipment of concentrated fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) generally includes: fruit (vegetable) pretreatment facilities: turnover and transportation facilities, washing machines, and selection machines; juice or pulping equipment: juicers, pulpers; material conveying and storage equipment: material pumps, storage badgers; special equipment: filters (clear juice), refiners (pulp), centrifuges (pulp, cloudy juice); concentration and filling equipment: concentrators (only for concentrated fruit and vegetable juice (pulp)), sterilizers, filling machines; pipeline and material cleaning and disinfection facilities.

Article 81 Inspection equipment should generally include: sterile room (or Clean bench), sterilizer, microbial incubator, biological microscope (or colony counter), refractometer (or density meter), acid-base titration device, analytical balance (0.1mg) and related measuring instruments.

Section 4 Equipment Layout and Process Flow

Article 82 Equipment layout should be designed according to the process flow. Fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) generally includes: raw fruit and vegetable pretreatment (with fruit and vegetables as raw materials), juice extraction (with fruit and vegetables as raw materials) clarification (clear juice), filtration (clear juice), pulping (fruit and vegetable pulp), sterilization, centrifugation (turbid juice), dilution (with concentrated fruit and vegetable juice pulp as raw materials), filling, capping and light inspection (or automatic monitoring), etc. Concentrated fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) generally includes: raw fruit and vegetable pretreatment, juice extraction, clarification (clear juice), filtration (clear juice). Pulping (concentrated pulp), sterilization, high heart (juice). Concentration, filling, capping and light inspection (or automatic monitoring), etc. Fruit and vegetable juice beverages generally include: fruit and vegetable pretreatment (with fruits and vegetables as raw materials), juice (with fruits and vegetables as raw materials), dilution (with concentrated fruit and vegetable juice as raw materials), blending, sterilization, filling and capping, and light inspection (or automatic monitoring), etc. Specific products are produced according to the actual process flow of the enterprise, but its process flow must be scientific and reasonable and comply with relevant regulations. 

Article 83 Fruit and vegetable juice and beverage Manufacturers should control the key points in the production process, and the treated water should meet the production process requirements, monitor and record various instructions.

For fresh fruits and vegetables as raw materials, the agricultural residues, pollutants and decay rate of the raw materials should be strictly controlled according to standards and relevant regulations, and fungal toxins should be controlled and recorded; there should be a picking process to remove bad, diseased and pest-infected fruits and vegetables and foreign matter, and strictly control the decay rate of raw materials; they should be fully cleaned, and the process parameters such as crushing and pulping should be strictly monitored to ensure that the production process requirements are met after treatment, and records should be made.

If there is a blending process, the type, quantity and order of feeding should be controlled and recorded; the raw and auxiliary materials feeding conveying system should have filters of appropriate specifications or other equivalent impurity removal measures; according to the production process requirements, stirring, heating, insulation and other operations should be carried out, and the relevant process parameters should be monitored and recorded. If there is a sterilization process, strictly monitor and record the process parameters that affect the sterilization effect (such as sterilization temperature, time, etc.), the sterilization equipment should be calibrated and recorded regularly, and the sterilization effect should be monitored and recorded.

When filling and capping, foreign matter control measures should be set before the product is filled, the filling temperature should be controlled, and quantitative filling should be carried out according to the net content requirements; the capping (mouth) should control the capping torque, capping pressure and other capping sealing parameters to ensure the product is sealed. After filling and capping, the appearance, filling volume and container condition of the product should be checked.

Section 5 Personnel Verification

Article 84 Food safety management personnel, food safety professional and technical personnel, inspection personnel, production personnel (including those directly engaged in water supply and management) must obtain a health certificate before they can go to work, and undergo a health check at least once a year.

Section 6 Management System Review

Article 85 A review system for suppliers of raw materials, auxiliary materials and packaging materials should be established, and regular review and evaluation should be conducted; the food safety responsibilities of both parties should be clearly stated in the contract signed with the supplier.

Article 86 A purchase inspection record system should be established. The water used for production should meet the hygiene requirements (except pH value) in the "Sanitary Standard for Drinking Water" (GB 5749). The fruits (vegetables) used should meet the requirements of the "National Food Safety Standard Maximum Residue Limits of Pesticides in Food" (GB 2763) and the corresponding product standards, and control pollutants, decay rate and fungal toxins and record them. Concentrated juice (pulp) should meet the requirements of the "National Food Safety Standard Concentrated Fruit and Vegetable Juice (Pulp) for Food Industry" (GB 17325) and related safety standards. Sugar and acidulants shall not be added to the juice at the same time. The amount of citrus juice or pulp and citrus cells added to orange juice shall not exceed 10% of the soluble solids.

Article 87 Enterprises shall establish a product formula management system, list the basis and prescribed amount of food additives, food nutrient enhancers and new raw materials used in the formula; the food additives, food nutrient enhancers and new raw materials used shall comply with the relevant product standards and the provisions of the relevant announcements of the health administrative department of the State Council.

Article 88 Enterprises shall establish a production process management system to control the quality and safety of water treatment, blending, filtration, sterilization, filling, light inspection, cleaning and disinfection, storage, transportation and delivery in the production process.

Concentrated fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) controls the raw material pretreatment, juice, sterilization, concentration, filling and other links. The water treatment process shall specify the cleaning and replacement requirements of the filter device, formulate the control indicators of the treated water and monitor and record them. Concentrated fruit and vegetable juice should be transported according to relevant transportation conditions, and refrigerated trucks should be equipped according to relevant requirements; purchased concentrated fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) should be stored at 0-4°C (except for aseptically packaged products), and for raw materials such as concentrated cloudy juice that need to be stored frozen, they should be stored below -18°C and monitored.

The blending should be reviewed to prevent errors in the type and quantity of materials. Bottles (badgers) and caps should be regularly monitored for microorganisms (except for the blow-fill-seal integrated equipment with empty bottle dust removal and bottle cap disinfection functions). The post-sterilization process should have records of temperature and time, and regular checks should be made to see if the specified requirements are met. Effective cleaning and disinfection methods and management systems should be formulated to ensure the cleanliness, hygiene and safety of production sites, production equipment, packaging containers, work clothes and personnel, and prevent products and packaging from being contaminated during the production process.

Article 89 Reasonable hygiene monitoring requirements should be set in accordance with Appendix A "Guidelines for Microbial Monitoring Procedures in Beverage Processing" of the "National Food Safety Standard Beverage Production Hygiene Specifications" (G8 12695).

Article 90 An inspection management system should be formulated, including management regulations for raw materials, processes, factory and type inspections. The inspection capabilities of fruit and vegetable juice and beverage enterprises should at least meet the requirements of sensory, soluble solids, titratable acid (if the product has this item), total colony count, toxic bacteria (if the product has this item), yeast (if the product has this item), coliform group, pH value, residual gas (if the process has this item), turbidity (if necessary), insoluble solids (if the product has this item), transmittance (if the product has this item), color value (if the product has this item) and other items. Enterprises can use rapid detection methods and equipment, but they should ensure that the test results are accurate. When the rapid detection methods and equipment used are used for factory inspection, they should be compared or verified regularly with the Inspection methods specified in national standards. When the rapid test results are unqualified, they should be confirmed using the inspection methods specified in the standards. 

Article 91 The inspection management system shall stipulate the requirements for type inspection, which shall be conducted at least once every six months (once a year for seasonal products). Type inspection shall be conducted in a timely manner when the main raw and auxiliary materials and key production processes are changed, before resuming production after a suspension of more than three months, and when the factory inspection results are significantly different from normal production.

Section 7 Inspection of Trial Products

Article 92 According to the varieties of fruit and vegetable juices and beverages declared (fruit and vegetable juice (pulp), concentrated fruit and vegetable juice (pulp), fruit and vegetable juice (pulp) beverages) and implementation standards, representative samples shall be drawn from the same specifications and batches of trial products for inspection. Orange, tangerine, tangerine juice and hawthorn juice in fruit and vegetable juices and beverages are mandatory varieties. 

Article 93 Enterprises shall report the authenticity of the inspection reports provided; the inspection items shall be carried out in accordance with the national food safety standards, product standards, enterprise standards applicable to the products and the relevant announcement requirements of the health administrative departments of the State Council.