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Introduction
When talking about tea—one of the seven essentials of daily life for the Chinese people—many often say: “There are too many types of Chinese tea, but there is a lack of standards, or perhaps no standards at all.” Is this true? Today, we will provide an introductory overview of the overall state of tea standardization in China for industry readers and consumers, and find out whether Chinese tea truly lacks standards.
Standardization work is an important technical foundation that supports and leads economic and social development, and is an effective way to promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into productivity. The standardization of tea is the foundation for the healthy and sustainable development of China’s tea industry and an important guarantee for enhancing the competitiveness of the tea market. In recent years, with the implementation of the national standardization strategy, the revision of the “Standardization Law of the People’s Republic of China,” and the issuance of the “National Standardization Development Outline,” China has made significant progress in tea standardization. In the field of domestic standardization, a coordinated system has gradually emerged—comprising national, industry, local, group, and enterprise standards—covering the entire industry chain, including tea cultivation, processing, packaging, and distribution.
According to the “2022 China Tea Standardization System Development Report,” China currently has 79 national tea standards, over 200 industry standards, over 1,000 local standards, and over 900 group standards.
Today, the multi-media editor of China Cooperation Times · Tea Weekly will summarize the current state of tea standardization in China.
What is a Standard?
Currently, there are two concepts of a “standard”:
First is the provision from the “Standardization Law of the People’s Republic of China”: A standard (including standard samples) refers to the unified technical requirements needed in fields such as agriculture, industry, service industries, and social undertakings.
Second is the definition from GB/T 20000.1 “Guidelines for Standardization Work Part 1: General Terms for Standardization and Related Activities”: A document established through standardization activities, developed according to prescribed procedures through consensus, providing rules, guidelines, or characteristics for various activities or their results, for common and repeated use. Standardization, in this context, refers to activities aimed at achieving the best order within a given scope, promoting common benefit, establishing common and repeated terms for actual or potential problems, and the compilation, publication, and application of documents.
How are Standards Classified?
According to the “Standardization Law of the People’s Republic of China,” standards include national standards, industry standards, local standards, group standards, and enterprise standards. National standards are divided into mandatory standards and recommended standards. Industry and local standards are recommended standards. Mandatory standards must be implemented, while the state encourages the adoption of recommended standards.
1. National Standards
National standards (including the production of standard samples) shall be formulated for technical requirements that need to be unified nationwide. Mandatory national standards are approved and issued by the State Council or issued under its authorization. Recommended national standards are issued uniformly by the national administrative department in charge of standardization.
The code for mandatory national standards is “GB,” and the code for recommended national standards is “GB/T.” The number of a national standard consists of the standard code, the sequence number of issuance, and the year of issuance.
2. Industry Standards
Where no national standard exists and technical requirements need to be unified within a specific industry nationwide, industry standards may be formulated. Industry standards are developed by the relevant administrative departments of the State Council and filed with the national administrative department in charge of standardization.
3. Local Standards
Local standards may be formulated to meet special technical requirements related to local natural conditions, customs, and habits. These standards are developed by the administrative departments in charge of standardization of the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and are uniformly approved and issued by local market supervision and administration departments.
According to the “Administrative Measures for Local Standards,” the number of a local standard consists of three parts: the local standard code, the sequence number, and the year of issuance. Provincial local standard codes consist of “DB” followed by the first two digits of the administrative division code. Municipal local standard codes consist of “DB” followed by the first four digits of the administrative division code.
4. Group Standards
Group standards are generally issued by social organizations such as societies, associations, chambers of commerce, federations, and industrial technical alliances established according to law. China implements a system of self-declaration, publication, and supervision for group standards. The national administrative department in charge of standardization, in conjunction with other relevant administrative departments of the State Council, regulates, guides, and supervises the formulation of group standards.
The “Administrative Provisions on Group Standards” specify that the group standard number consists of the group standard code, the social organization code, the group standard sequence number, and the year of issuance. An example is the “Value Evaluation of Regional Public Brands for Tea” (T/CAI 049—2024) group standard, which came into effect on May 1st.
What are the “Focus Points” of Domestic Tea Standards?
1. Status of Domestic Tea Standards
In recent years, China has actively promoted the construction of a standard system centered on tea products and tea production. Currently, tea-related national standards, depending on the technical department in charge, can be broadly divided into mandatory national standards, recommended national standards for geographical indication products, and recommended national standards under the National Tea Standardization Technical Committee. This has gradually formed a national tea standard system coordinated across three levels—general tea standards, tea category standards, and re-processed tea standards—alongside food safety and labeling standards, quality standards, and method standards.
Regarding quality and safety standards, commonly used standards include the “National Food Safety General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods” (GB 7718—2011), “National Food Safety Standard for Maximum Levels of Contaminants in Foods” (GB 2762—2022), and “National Food Safety Standard for Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticides in Foods” (GB 2763—2021). These standards aim to ensure the quality and safety of tea products, including limits on contaminants and labeling requirements for prepackaged foods. The “National Food Safety Standard for Tea” (GB 31608—2023), published in 2023, is the first mandatory food safety national standard formulated for tea products and is currently the only food safety national standard for tea. This standard specifies technical requirements for scope, terms and definitions, raw material requirements, sensory requirements, contaminant limits, pesticide residue limits, and food additives, serving as the foundation for other recommended tea product standards. This standard will officially come into effect on September 6th.
Regarding method standards, commonly used standards include the “National Food Safety Standard for Determination of Ash in Foods” (GB 5009.4—2016), “Determination of Tea Polyphenols and Catechins in Tea” (GB/T 8313—2018), “Determination of L-Theanine in Tea by High Performance Liquid Chromatography” (GB/T 23193—2017), “Determination of Theaflavins in Tea by High Performance Liquid Chromatography” (GB/T 30483—2013), and the GB 23200 series of pesticide residue determination methods. These standards specify the detection methods for various physicochemical indicators, elements, hygiene indicators, and pesticide residues in tea.
Regarding basic standards, commonly used standards include “Terminology for Sensory Evaluation of Tea” (GB/T 14487—2017), “Specifications for Clean Production of Primary Tea Processing Plants” (DB35/T 1988—2021), “General Rules for the Organization of Tea Competitions” (DB35/T 2057—2022), “Basic Requirements for Tea Sensory Evaluation Rooms” (GB/T 18797—2012), “Classification of Tea” (GB/T 30766—2014), “Storage of Tea” (GB/T 30375—2013), “Good Practices for Tea Processing” (GB/T 32744—2016), and “Terminology for Tea Processing” (GB/T 40633—2021).
2. Tea Standard Samples
Tea standard samples, or physical tea standards, are reference materials used to ensure the consistency of the implementation of tea standards across different times and spaces. They are an important technical foundation for implementing written tea standards. In recent years, as China’s written tea standard system continues to improve and the management of standard samples becomes more developed and standardized, the development of standard samples in the tea field has become increasingly important.
According to incomplete statistics, national tea standard samples are mainly divided into two categories: sensory grading standard samples and matrix standard samples for specific components or classes of components in tea, with a total of 19 samples.
Currently under development are sensory grading standard samples for Jasmine tea and White tea, sensory standard samples for Huangshan Maofeng (Special Grade, Second Class), Taiping Houkui (Special Grade), Keemun Black Tea (Special Grade), Huoshan Huangya (Special First Grade), Lu’an Guapian (Special First Grade), and sensory grading standard samples for Tanyang Gongfu tea. Sensory grading standard samples for sun-dried green tea have completed acceptance and are awaiting publication.
Which International Standards is China Involved In?
Internationally, as China’s comprehensive national strength and international influence have grown, China’s work on international tea standardization has achieved breakthrough after breakthrough, gradually moving from participation to leadership.
1. Overview of ISO International Tea Standards
International standards related to quality are managed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Standardization work related to tea is handled by ISO/TC34/SC8 (International Organization for Standardization/Technical Committee on Foods/Subcommittee on Tea), which is responsible for the formulation and revision of international standards for product specifications, classification, quality indicators, and determination methods. As of December 31, 2023, there are 31 effective international tea standards. In addition to 26 published in or before 2020, five have been published in the last three years: “Solid Instant Tea—Specification” (ISO 6079:2021), “Green Tea—Terminology” (ISO 18449:2021), “Oolong Tea—Definition and Basic Requirements” (ISO 20716:2022), “Matcha” (ISO/TR 21380:2022), and “Classification of Tea” (ISO 20715:2023). Additionally, four others are under development.
For over 20 years, under the leadership of the National Standardization Administration and the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, the Hangzhou Tea Research Institute—the technical department in China for the ISO/TC34/SC8 Subcommittee on Tea—has actively organized Chinese tea experts to participate in ISO/TC34/SC8 standardization work. This has allowed China to gradually understand and master the rules for formulating international tea standards, expand the team of international tea standardization experts, and continuously improve its capacity and level in undertaking international tea standardization work. To date, Chinese experts have led the proposal and initiation of five international standards, including “Classification of Tea,” “Green Tea Terminology,” “Oolong Tea—Definition and Basic Requirements,” “Tea Polyphenol Extracts: Definition and Basic Requirements,” and “Chemical Classification of Tea,” all of which have made breakthrough progress with the support of domestic and international experts.
2. Translation of Foreign Language Versions of Domestic Standards
To support the “Going Global” strategy for Chinese standards, the National Tea Standardization Technical Committee is actively translating national standards into foreign languages. In addition to 16 English publication projects completed by 2020, English versions of “Yellow Tea” (GB/T 21726—2018), “Tea Bags” (GB/T 24690—2018), and five GB/T 14456 green tea series standards were successively published between 2021 and 2022. Furthermore, three others are under development.
A Long Way to Go for Tea Standardization
China possesses a long history of tea culture, abundant tea tree resources, a complete tea industry chain, large-scale tea production, and a vast consumer market. All of these provide a solid foundation for the construction of tea standardization in China. Currently, China is the country with the most tea standards and the most complete tea standard system in the world. While international product standards are predominantly for black tea, China’s tea product standards cover not only the six major tea categories but also include series of standards for specific categories such as green tea, black tea, oolong tea, and dark tea to ensure product quality. Simultaneously, standards for re-processed teas have been established based on the six major categories. In the field of method standards, China has not only standards for sampling and physicochemical component testing but also standards for sensory evaluation methods. In the field of food safety, China’s pesticide residue standards basically cover the high-risk items in the Codex Alimentarius as well as safety standards for exports to the European Union and Japan.
Regarding the future direction of tea standardization in China, Yin Yi, Director of the Hangzhou Tea Research Institute of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, stated that although China’s tea standardization work has achieved significant results and leapfrog development since the reform and opening-up, there is still a long way to go. It is necessary to keep pace with the times and continuously make improvements to strictly control tea quality and safety, break through foreign trade technical barriers, lead high-quality development with high standards, establish the quality reputation of Chinese tea, gain the initiative in market competition, and promote the improvement of quality and efficiency in the tea industry to elevate the overall development level of the sector.
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Author: Lam Sam (LamSam), the Old Tea Head
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