This week China is celebrating its Mid-Autumn holiday, traditionally celebrated with beautifully packed fresh fruit gift bags. However, in the future, retailers might have to reconsider bringing their fruits to the market, as the country has launched a new set of packaging requirements that should counter the excessive use of packaging materials.
The State Administration for Market Regulation (National Standards Administration) issued the National Standard Announcement No. 10 of 2023. This mandatory national standard is officially called "Restricting Excessive Packaging of Commodities Requirements for Fresh Edible Agricultural Products". The standard was drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and will be implemented from April 1, 2024.
Top right, will this packaging comply with next year's new packaging regulations?
The main technical indicators include three aspects. To start, the outside upper limit should include a 10%-25% packaging empty space. Secondly, vegetables, including edible fungi, should be packaged in no more than three layers of packaging. Fruits should be packaged in no more than four layers Thirdly, the ratio of the packaging cost of fresh edible agricultural products should not exceed more than 20% compared to the overall sales price.
In recent years, in order to ensure fruit quality and improve product appearance, fruit packaging has become increasingly luxurious. For fruit sellers, putting fillers in fruit boxes to prevent unnecessary damage to the fruits during transportation, to help preserve the fruits, and to impress the consumer. However, in recent years, fruit packaging has become more luxurious, larger, more expensive, and, in the end, polluting.
Kiwifruit packaged with typical filler material to protect the individual fruits
Packaging alternative with less plastic used in between the fruits?
With this new regulation, the Ministry of Agriculture hopes to prevent the waste of packaging materials and side effects that maybe occur, including environmental damage and inflated consumer prices.
At the same time, consumers are encouraged to consciously practice the concept of green consumption and not purchase over-packaged fresh edible agricultural products.