What a Chinese label must say on imported food, and what changes under GB 7718-2025

Short answer: Prepackaged food imported into China must carry a Chinese label that states the country of origin and the name, address and contact details of the importer or agent in China. Food without a compliant Chinese label may not be imported. On March 16, 2027, a new labelling standard, GB 7718-2025, replaces the one that has applied since 2011. The changes worth planning for now: allergen declaration becomes mandatory, dates must be written in year-month-day order, and there is a new section specifically for imported products.

Who this is for

You make a food product in Canada, an importer or a Tmall Global storefront is about to carry it in China, and someone has asked you for "the Chinese label." Packaging takes months to redesign and reprint, so a standard that takes effect in March 2027 is a 2027 budget question you are answering in 2026.

The rule that applies today

China's Food Safety Law, Art. 97 is short and strict. Imported prepackaged food and food additives must have a Chinese label. Where instructions are required, they must be in Chinese too. The label and instructions must state the country of origin and the name, address and contact details of the agent, importer or distributor registered in China. If a product does not have them, it may not be imported.

Two points Canadian exporters regularly get wrong:

• The Chinese label is not a translation of your Canadian label. It carries the items China requires, which are not the same set Canada requires.
• A compliant label does not, by itself, make a product importable. Facility registration, inspection and quarantine, and product registration for categories such as health food are separate requirements. Labelling is one condition among several.

Separately, under Decree 280, a registered overseas producer exporting food to China must mark the packaging with its Chinese registration number, or the registration number approved by the competent authority in its home country (unofficial translation, Art. 14). That number lives on the pack, so it belongs in the same conversation as the label. Our GACC registration guide covers how the number is obtained.

What changes under GB 7718-2025

China's National Health Commission and market regulator released GB 7718-2025, General Principles for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods, on March 27, 2025. It is a mandatory national food safety standard, it takes effect March 16, 2027, and it replaces GB 7718-2011. Until that date, the 2011 standard is the one in force.

The changes that most affect a Canadian pack:

Two clauses to hand your designer now, because they change layout rather than copy:

• One-to-one correspondence. The Chinese label on imported prepackaged food must be printed or affixed and must carry the mandatory items this standard and Chinese law require. There must be one-to-one correspondence between the Chinese and the foreign-language mandatory content (section 8.1.2, unofficial translation).
• Type size. Foreign letters may not be larger than the corresponding Chinese characters, with registered trademarks excepted (section 3.6, unofficial translation).

That second one catches brands whose English name is the largest thing on the front of pack. If the English word is a registered trademark, it is exempt. If it is a descriptor — "Pure Maple Syrup," "Wild Caught" — the Chinese has to be at least as large.

The translation quoted here is the unofficial one published by USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service in report CH2025-0070. For anything you are going to print, have your importer or a regulatory specialist work from the official Chinese text in the national food safety standards database at sppt.cfsa.net.cn.

Cross-border e-commerce is different

If you sell through cross-border e-commerce rather than general trade, the pack may have no Chinese label at all. Under Notice No. 486, platforms must tell the shopper that the product follows the standards of its home country, may have no Chinese label, and that a Chinese electronic label can be viewed on the website. The shopper accepts that before buying.

This is one of the practical differences between the two routes into China, which we set out in our guide to cross-border e-commerce versus general trade. It also means the Chinese text describing your product online is doing the work your physical label would otherwise do — which makes that copy worth more attention, not less.

A working checklist for the Chinese back label

Use this to brief your importer, not to replace them. The mandatory set for your specific product depends on its category.

1. Product name, ingredient list and net content, in Chinese
2. Country of origin
3. Name, address and contact details of the importer, agent or distributor registered in China
4. Date of manufacture and shelf-life expiration date, in year-month-day order
5. Storage conditions
6. Allergen declaration (mandatory from March 16, 2027, in the prescribed format)
7. Your GACC registration number, or the home-authority registration number, on the packaging
8. Any category-specific items — nutrition panel, product standard code, production licence number

What this means for your business

1. Ask your importer which standard your next print run falls under. GB 7718-2025 takes effect March 16, 2027; until then the 2011 standard is the one in force, and your importer is the one who can tell you which applies to a given production run.
2. Budget the artwork revision into 2027, and decide it in 2026. Allergen format and the date-sequence change affect the back panel; the type-size rule can affect the front.
3. Check whether your English front-of-pack wording is a registered trademark. If it is not, the Chinese has to be at least as large — that is a design decision, not a translation one.
4. Keep label work with the people who carry the liability. Your importer and a regulatory professional sign off on what goes on the pack.
5. Work from the official Chinese text for anything you print. Use the unofficial translations to plan, not to approve artwork.

How QX can help

Label compliance sits with your importer and a regulatory professional — they hold the liability and they have the official text. QX works on the other half of the pack: the brand story. We build your Chinese-language product and brand materials, and run your Xiaohongshu, WeChat and Douyin presence, so that when a shopper in China picks up your product — or reads its listing before buying — the story on the pack is told clearly in Chinese, and searching your name brings them to something you wrote. Start with a free 20-minute consultation and leave with a clear view of how your product reads to a Chinese shopper today.