G/SPS/N/CHN/1031  
 
20 November 2015  
(15-6171)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
  NOTIFICATION 
1. Notifying Member: CHINA 
If applicable, name of local government involved:   
2. Agency responsible: National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's 
Republic of China (NHFPC) 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item  number(s) as specified in national 
schedules deposited with the WTO; IC S numbers should be provided in 
addition, where applicable): Food additive Agar 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[X] All trading partners   
[ ] Specific regions or countries:   
5. Title of the notified document: National Food Safety Standard: Food additive Agar  
Language(s): Chinese  Number of pages: 5 
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2015/SPS/CHN/15_4661_00_x.pdf  
6. Description of content: This standard applies to food additive Agar, which is made 
from Gelidium amansii , Gracilaria tenuistipitata , Pyropia  and other Rhodophyta  as raw 
material, and obtained through leaching and drying process. It stipulates the technical 
requirements and test methods for Agar.  
7. Objective and rationale: [X] food safety, [ ] animal health, [ ] plant protection, 
[ ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [ ] protect territory from 
other damage from pests.   G/SPS/N/CHN/1031 
 
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  8. Is there a relevant international st andard? If so, identify the standard:  
[X] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g. title or serial  n u m b e r  o f  C o d e x  
standard or related text) CAC (JECFA 406 Agar) 
[ ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)    
[ ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g. ISPM number)    
[ ] None 
Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard?   
[ ] Yes   [X] No 
If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard: In this standard, requirements for gel strength and 
microorganism are deleted. The change is because that detecting instruments of gel strength are not uniform currently in China, which are not included in the instrument list 
of national metrological verification. Therefore, domestic food inspection laboratory 
cannot provide the detecting data of gel strength via measurement certification. Moreover, many corporations have resear ched new agar products with lower gel 
strength, which are used in liquid and semi liquid food, and have broad application 
prospects. In addition, agar as food additive is not an instant product, and there is no need to specify microorganism index. 
9. Other relevant documents and language (s) in which these are available: None   
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) : To be determined. 
Proposed date of publication (dd/mm/yy) : To be determined. 
11. Proposed date of entry into force: [ ] Six months from date of publication , 
and/or  (dd/mm/yy) : To be determined. 
[ ] Trade facilitating measure   
12. Final date for comments: [X] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or (dd/mm/yy) : 19 January 2016 
Agency or authority designated to hand le comments: [ ] National Notification 
Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point. Address, fax number and e-mail address 
(if available) of other body:   
13. Text(s) available from: [ ] National Notifi cation Authority, [X] National Enquiry 
Point. Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body: