China's agricultural products account for a large part of the national economy and are the lifeblood of the national economy. Food relates to people's health and relates to the sustained and stable development of the economy. The quality of food packaging barrels also causes people's attention. All countries in the world, especially the developed countries, attach great importance to foods and other products that are related to the health of the people. It not only imposes stringent sanitary requirements on the quality of the food itself, but also sets high standards for its packaging barrels, and continuously promulgates a series of laws and regulations to effectively regulate the food, especially for the inspection and quarantine of imported food and agricultural products. More rigorous, in addition to international standards, countries have frequently encountered restrictions and technical barriers to food packaging barrels, and they are constantly adjusting and changing. Technical inspections and health and quarantine requirements for imported and exported food, agricultural products, and their packaging barrels are very high. In addition, the health problems of food and agricultural products themselves are constantly emerging, and many developed countries have introduced many laws and regulations to implement a fairly strict access system for food, agricultural products, and their packaging barrels. It can be seen that internationally The importance of the problem.
In recent years, China’s exports of food and agricultural and sideline products have increased year after year. Mainly due to the impact of climatic conditions, China's agricultural and sideline products, especially western honey, apples, tomatoes, etc., its honey and tomatoes are rich in vitamins and sugar, apple juice, sugar content is significantly higher than other regions in the country. For this reason, the amount of food and agricultural and sideline products exported from the west has been increasing year by year. According to market research, in 2003 and 2004, the total amount of China's exported food and agricultural and sideline products was 117.8 million tons and 135 million tons, respectively. It is expected that the export volume in 2005 will be 156 million tons and it will reach 255 million tons by 2010. The growth rates were 14.6% (2003-2004) and 36% (2005-2010), respectively, with an average annual increase of 6%. From 2003 to the present, in the western part of China, a large amount of investment has been made in the development of the agricultural economy, and the production bases for agricultural products and agricultural and sideline products have also continuously increased. In 2004, Inner Mongolia, Hexi, and Shaanxi invested a huge amount of money to import 8 tomato processing lines and 6 apple processing lines. The amount of packaging barrels used to hold tomato sauce and juices will increase again on an original basis. More than one million; in 2005, fruit processing bases in Shaanxi and Shandong established new fruit planting and processing bases in Gansu, Shaanxi, and Shanxi, respectively; at the same time, dealers in the Northeast also favored the export advantages of Northeast China and edible oil products, and vigorously expanded soybean oil. The production and processing bases for corn, corn and northeastern rice, and actively preparing for the construction of export packaging barrel production lines to prepare for grain exports.
At present, China's Export Commodity Packaging Research Institute is focusing on two things: First, in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Commerce, the "Technical Guidelines for Export Commodities" - Packaging Technology Guideline is introduced. This is mainly to enable our packaging and exporting goods companies to understand foreign countries. Commodity packaging restrictions and requirements, and put forward effective countermeasures; "Technical Guide" - packaging technology part mainly introduces the EU and its respective member countries, North America, Asia and the Pacific region major countries on the export of goods packaging restrictions and requirements, And as the changes continue to update and supplement. The second is to cooperate with relevant domestic departments to proceed from the development strategy of China's food and agricultural product packaging, promote the development and improvement of domestic development of export food and agricultural product packaging, meet the import country's requirements for food and agricultural product packaging, and comply with the packaging technology regulations of the importing countries.
In recent years, the chemical composition analysis and material selection of food and agricultural product packaging barrels have been highly demanded in developed countries, and they are not simply resistant to impact, non-toxicity, light, color, and leakage. It does not produce chemical effects by itself, but depends on its role in preservation, shelf life, prolonged food transport, and shelf life, and whether it has clear identification and prompts, thereby bringing convenience to consumers.
Although the packaging drums already have ISO international standards, it is mainly to take into consideration the maximum protection and transport performance of the packaging drums. Due to cultural differences, various developed countries have different technical specifications and color requirements for packaging drum materials. Starting from the principle of safeguarding the interests of their own nationals, they impose more stringent requirements on regulations and legal documents on imported product packaging drums. And regulations.
I. Status Quo of Exported Food and Agricultural Products Packaging Buckets in China
As early as the 1950s, the U.S. FDA paid equal attention to the inspection of food and agricultural products for barrels and contents. Recently, the United States has made regulations on its imported food and agricultural products, and it must be approved by the FDA before it can gain access to the US market. The introduction of packaging drum technology equipment from developed countries to food and agricultural products processing and packaging barrels, their products can easily enter the developed countries; and China's own packaging barrel machinery and equipment exports of food, agricultural products, packaging barrels is very difficult, domestic processing Exports of food produced by food machinery and equipment are also difficult. The food and agricultural product production lines introduced by China's advanced food companies are generally deep processing of food and agricultural products in the first half and aseptic packaging barrels in the second half. It is difficult for domestic aseptic packaging drum technology to meet export requirements.
Fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and flowers are the bulk products in China's export products, especially in Southeast Asia. However, the preservation technology of packaging drums and products is not good, and the packaging drums are very rough. These export products basically have not undergone primary processing. The export transportation drums use traditional cardboard boxes, and there is no widely used high-density polyethylene air-permeable transport box. , Turnover boxes, not only caused in the transport can not be fully loaded, can not reach the rated capacity and volume, so that the transport costs greatly increased; but the rate of decay and loss during transport is quite alarming. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, 20% of China's total fruit and vegetable production is lost during transport and storage, and the loss rate reaches 70 billion U.S. dollars. If US$70 billion is used to improve packaging barrels, not only can the loss rate of export fruits and vegetables be reduced to a minimum, but the quality of food and agricultural products passing through properly packaged barrels themselves will be even higher, and their freshness, sanitary conditions, transport warehousing life, and shelf life. The life expectancy will be improved, the added value of its products will be greatly enhanced, the market competitiveness will be greatly improved, and its profits will be more substantial.
For western products such as fruit juices, jams, ketchups, and honey, most of the exported honey products need to be shipped to Qinhuangdao for further processing and export inspection due to the backwardness of Western deep-processing technology; and juices are rich in sugar in the western region, and Shandong, etc. The acidity of ground juice is large and it needs to be shipped to Shandong for comprehensive deep processing. In order to reduce costs, suppliers have adopted pre-painted steel drums for food packaging before domestic deep processing, so that the quality standards for the inner wall of steel drums are very important.
Second, there is a gap between the requirements for export packaging drums and importing countries
China's food and agricultural product packaging barrels are simple, resulting in low product prices. Some countries need to repack barrels after entering our country's food and agricultural products to enter the domestic market, and their market prices are much higher than those at the time of import. In particular, the transportation and packaging of agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and tea leaves a large gap compared with foreign countries. In the sales of tea packaging, we should learn from international brands like Nestle.
It is worth noting that the thresholds for food and agricultural products that have been allowed to enter the country’s market through national certifications are getting higher and higher. The reason is that countries such as Europe, the United States and Japan have permanent research and inspection agencies and attach great importance to the health of food and agricultural products. They continuously research and investigate the carcinogens they identify in foods and agricultural products. At present, many people in the country think that foreign countries’ technical restrictions on the import of Chinese food and agricultural products are a kind of trade discrimination. This is not the case. They are the same technical requirements for their own domestic products, and they are the same for other importing countries, not just for China. Technical limitations.
In recent years, China has also spent a lot of energy in the production and processing of agricultural products, which has effectively controlled the pesticide content of honey, tomatoes, and apples, and its export volume has significantly exceeded the previous ones. In the past, there was no national standard for the identification of honey in China. Exported honey was sent to foreign countries first, and it could be exported only after qualified by others. This will delay the golden opportunity and be hindered by foreign technical barriers, which will seriously affect China's honey exports and the development of bee products. In recent years, through the efforts of the Qinhuangdao Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, 25 items of honey product testing standards have been formulated and are well received in Germany and other countries. Due to the inspection standards, the technical barriers to our export of honey will be grasped by ourselves and the export volume will have a large increase.
At present, inner coating drums used for holding foods generally include: honey buckets, juice buckets, and ketchup buckets. If the inner coating barrel used for containing these foods fails to meet the hygienic requirements for food hygiene due to the sanitary quality of the inner wall paint, it will cause secondary pollution and affect the inherent quality of the product.
China's food processing companies should produce foods and agricultural products that can be directly consumed through deep processing or primary processing. As much as possible to reduce the barrels of urban waste, but also to reduce transportation costs. Foreign countries have strict restrictions on the import of goods that are used to produce rubbish in packaging drums and products. The reason is that in order to reduce the city's waste disposal costs, China has not yet received due attention in this regard.
Agricultural products should be further commercialized. They must have the characteristics of commodities, so that they can be classed, graded, branded, and packed. At present, China lacks awareness of the industrialized operation of agricultural products. The consumption of products during transportation and storage is huge, and it causes waste to social resources. Breathable high-density polyethylene foods, agricultural product transport box turnover containers or container drums, “w†ring barrels, conical barrels, and small food cans are widely used in transportation and storage; sales drums are widely used. The use of breathable, moisturizing and environmental protection will greatly reduce the loss, thus improving the quality of food and agricultural products.
Export food and agricultural product packaging barrels should meet the needs of international transport, and their size should be standardized.
Third, the special requirements of food packaging barrels
In addition to satisfying the basic requirements of non-toxicity and harmlessness, packaging drums should also meet the special requirements of different importing countries.
The following are some commonly used food packaging barrel coating.
China's use of food coatings on the inner wall of drums for packaging drums includes: polyamide epoxy coatings, peroxyethylene coatings, and organic fluorine coatings. Below we discuss the following food safety and hygiene requirements for interior coatings.
1. Sanitary Requirements for Polyamide Epoxy Coatings
Polyamide epoxy resin coatings are epoxy resin coatings. Epoxy coating is a cured film coating. Epoxy resins are generally made from the polymerization of bisphenol A (bisphenol propane) and epichlorohydrin. According to the degree of polymerization, the molecular weight of the epoxy resin is also different. From the hygiene point of view, the larger the molecular weight (ie, the smaller the epoxy value) is, the more stable it is, and the less likely it is that the harmful substances will migrate into the food, so the safety is higher.
Polyamide as a curing agent for the polyamide oxygen resin coating itself is a polymer fraction, and no toxicity report has been reported. The mass of the polyamide epoxy resin (epoxy value of the epoxy resin), the ratio of the curing agent, and the degree of cure. The appropriate proportion of curing agent, the higher the degree of curing, the less the uncured material in the epoxy resin coating migrates into the food. According to the provisions of GB9686-88 “Sanitary Standards for Polyamide Epoxy Coatings on Inner Walls of Food Containersâ€, the evaporation residue of polyamide epoxy coating in various solvents should be controlled below 30mg/l.
2. Hygienic requirements for perchloroethylene coatings
Perchloroethylene paint uses vinyl chloride resin as raw material, together with plasticizer, and is naturally dried and filmed after being painted or sprayed on the inner wall of the packaging drum. Perchloroethylene coatings are generally divided into primers and topcoats. Perchloroethylene resin contains vinyl chloride monomer, which is a carcinogenic and toxic compound. The vinyl chloride coating after film formation may still contain residues of vinyl chloride. According to the provisions of GB7105-86 Hygienic Standards for Perichloroethylene Interior Coatings for Food Containers, the residual vinyl chloride monomer in the vinyl chloride coating after film formation should be Control below 1mg/kg. Plasticizers, solvents and other additives used in perchloroethylene coatings must comply with the relevant provisions of GB9685-94 "Hygienic Standards for the Use of Additives for Food Containers and Packaging Materials," and must not use toxic or highly toxic additives. Film should be uniform, no bubbles, spots, wrinkles, off phenomenon.
3, the health requirements of organic fluorine coating
Organic fluorine coatings include polyvinyl fluoride, polytetrafluoroethylene and polyhexafluoropropylene coatings. These coatings are polymerized with vinyl fluoride, tetrafluoroethylene, and hexafluoropropylene as the main raw materials, and are accompanied by certain additives. The inner wall surface. Organic fluorine coatings have the characteristics of anti-sticking and corrosion resistance, but their acid resistance is poor. Therefore, it is widely used in inner barrels of steel barrels containing honey. The specific application of the organic fluorine coating on the drum of honey coated drums is PTFE, abbreviated as PVF coating. It is a kind of macromolecule compound with stable chemical properties. Under normal circumstances there will be no monomer residue. It is a relatively safe food packaging barrel wall coating. However, because PTFE coatings require a relatively high degree of cleanliness for the drums being coated, the drums are usually cleaned prior to spraying. When cleaning the inner wall of the barrel of a packaging drum, most of the production enterprises of the packaging barrel currently use a spray cleaning and drying line for cleaning. Chromate is commonly used as a cleaning agent, which may cause chromium salts to remain on the surface of the container and then mix in the paint. Therefore, in the production of honey drums coated with honey, should be in accordance with the provisions of GB1167-89 "food container PTFE coating the inner wall of the health standards," the inner coating of honey barrel drums for inspection. The standard states that the appropriate amount of chromium and fluorine should be controlled at 0.01 mg/l and 0.2 mg/l, respectively. In addition, when PTFE is baked, if the temperature reaches 280°C, fission will occur, resulting in highly volatile toxic fluorides. Therefore, when using PTFE coated honey drums, generally The baking temperature must not exceed 250 °C.
Fourth, export food packaging barrels on the packaging barrels production companies
If the domestic packaging industry wants to make a good "gown" for export goods, it must do the following:
1. Strengthen the internal management of packaging barrel enterprises and strictly follow the process requirements to produce and process food packaging barrels.
2. Accelerate the standardization process of packaging drums, including the standardization of packaging drum materials, technical requirements for packaging drums, identification of packaging drums, and manufacturing of packaging drums, especially the mandatory food packaging drum standards. At present, there are still some blank technical standards for packaging drums in China, some of which are out of date, some of which need to be revised. In addition, the implementation of standards is not strict enough;
3. On the basis of improving technical standards, it is even more necessary to establish and improve regulations for food and agricultural product packaging barrels. China has yet to have a "Packaging Barrel Law." The government should pay attention to it and strive to get Taiwan's "Packaging Barrel Law" as early as possible;
4. The design, production, and application of the packaging barrels are out of touch. The packaging barrels do not understand the foreign situation. The design and production do not understand the application of the packaging barrels. There is no effective communication and cooperation between the packaging industry and the downstream industries such as food and agricultural products. ;
5. There is a big gap between China's food and agricultural product drum technology equipment and shipping drums compared with foreign countries. We should vigorously research and develop advanced packaging drum technology equipment. This is the technical guarantee that drums can ultimately achieve their effective functions. Only advanced packaging technology and equipment can really enable export foods and agricultural products to meet the requirements of importing countries and achieve a substantial increase in exports.
5. There is a big gap between China's food and agricultural product drum technology equipment and shipping drums compared with foreign countries. We should vigorously research and develop advanced packaging drum technology equipment. This is the technical guarantee that drums can ultimately achieve their effective functions. Only advanced packaging technology and equipment can really enable export foods and agricultural products to meet the requirements of importing countries and achieve a substantial increase in exports.
6. The government and enterprises should strengthen guidance, management, and capital investment in agricultural product packaging barrels, and constantly strengthen the training of employees' awareness of packaging barrels, so that agricultural products can better move toward a broad international market, truly realize the added value of their products, and make farmers Instead of being trapped by the cheapness of primary agricultural products, they actually increase their income from high value-added agricultural products and benefit from them.
7. While strengthening the barrels for food and agricultural products, we must also increase the quality of the contents of foods and agricultural products to prevent the deterioration of good varieties.
8, food packaging barrels to meet the requirements of food safety and health. From the foregoing analysis, it can be seen that food coatings applied to the inner wall of food packaging barrels, if not handled properly, are not strictly controlled according to the process requirements, and more or less, there will be residue migration to the paint coating, thereby contaminating the inner coating. food. As food packaging barrels, it must meet food safety and hygiene standards, which is the most basic common sense. In recent years, China's exports of fruit juices, ketchup, and honey have always been unable to qualify for entry because of excessive pesticide levels, and have even been placed at ports for a long period of time, eventually being returned to the domestic embarrassing situation. Therefore, as a food packaging drum, in addition to meeting the basic requirements for food hygiene, the residual amount of solvent must be required to be as low as possible. This requires food packaging drum manufacturers in the production of food coating bucket, must be in accordance with the requirements of food safety and hygiene, food packaging drum cleaning and residual harmful substances does not exceed the health standards; in order to ensure the quality of food coatings can be * , The food packaging barrel manufacturer shall periodically request the food coating supplier for a production license issued by the local superior quality inspection department and an effective food safety and health inspection report. The quality and technical supervision department also regularly supervises and inspects the food-coated drums and issues inspection reports; customers of food-in-apply drums must also ask the drum manufacturer for a production license issued by the higher quality inspection department. Certificate and effective food safety inspection report.
2005-8-6