In March 2025, the National Food Safety Standard General Principles for Nutrition Labeling of Prepackaged Foods ( GB 28050-2025 ) is officially released and will be implemented on March 16, 2027. Fully considering the nutrition and health status of the whole people, in order to improve the unreasonable dietary conditions such as high salt, high fat and high sugar, further guide consumers to understand and reasonably choose food, and refer to the international nutrition label, the new version of the standard lists "saturated fat (acid)" as a mandatory labeling item for food nutrition labels, and the Food Partner Network will comprehensively sort out the labeling requirements and common problems of "saturated fat (acid)" for industry reference.

1. Basic introduction

according to GB 28050-2025, saturated fatty acids refer to the sum of fatty acids without double bonds on the carbon chain. are the basic units that make up fat, such as the common palmitic acid and stearic acid wait. Saturated fats generally refer to saturated fatty acids and glycerol ( glycerol ) Triglyceride formed by esterification reaction belongs to the product of saturated fatty acid after esterification, and is also one of the main forms of fat in food.

2. Marking requirements in the standard

according to GB 28050-2025, the content of energy, protein, fat, saturated fat (or saturated fatty acid), carbohydrate, sugar and sodium content and their percentage of nutrient reference values are mandatory for 4.1 prepackaged food nutrition labels. The mandatory labeling of saturated fats (or saturated fatty acids) in the new standard.

According to GB 28050-2025, the name and sequence, expression unit, modification interval and "0" limit value of 5.1 table 1 energy and nutrient composition can identify saturated fat or saturated fatty acid.

According to the provisions 6.7 in GB 28050-2025, the upper limit of the allowable error range is set between the actual measured value or calculated value of saturated fat and saturated fatty acid and the marked value, and the actual measured value shall be ≤ 120 of the marked value.

The saturated fat or saturated fatty acid in the nutrition composition table should be marked below the fat. When more camp forms are marked, the mandatory marked contents: energy, protein, fat, saturated fat (or saturated fatty acid), carbohydrate, sugar and sodium should be made more eye-catching by increasing the font size, changing the font (such as italic, bold, black) or adjusting the color (text or background color). The following figure is an example in GB 28050-2025.

3. Frequently Asked Questions

3.1 How is NRV% calculated when it is labeled as saturated fatty acids in the nutrient composition table?

GB 28050-2025 Appendix A Table A.1 Nutrient Reference Value (NRV) only stipulates that saturated fat NRV is 20g. GB 28050-2025 Question and Answer Article 23 "Calculation of NRV% of Saturated Fat, Dietary Fiber and Niacin" is clear. Appendix A specifies NRV of saturated fat, dietary fiber and nicotinic acid. When saturated fatty acids are labeled in the nutritional composition table, their content should be converted into saturated fat before calculating NRV%. For example, if a food contains 3.8g of saturated fatty acid per 100g, which translates to 4.0g of saturated fat, its NRV% should be 20%.

3.2 "saturated fat" and "saturated fatty acid" conversion coefficient is fixed?

The conversion coefficient is not fixed. The GB 28050-2025 question and answer is only an example. Different saturated fatty acids will have different conversion coefficients. It is recommended that the detection organization directly convert the content of saturated fatty acids into the content of saturated fat, or mark the content of "saturated fat" on the label.