With the release of the important national standard for the safety of infant and toddler products, "Bottles and pacifiers for infants and toddlers" (GB 38995-2020). This standard is based on the "Safety Requirements for Infant and Toddler Bottles" enterprise alliance standard developed by Guangzhou Customs Technical Center, and is a mandatory national standard for infant and toddler bottles and pacifiers in China. This standard will be implemented from November 1, 2021. Industry insiders say that this standard has high requirements and is mandatory, which will play a positive role in regulating product design, improving material safety, and other aspects. It will have a significant impact on both consumers and the healthy development of the entire industry.
It is reported that the "Infant and Toddler Bottle and Nipper" standard specifies multiple mechanical, physical, and labeling requirements for the printing pattern ink adhesion, capacity scale, capacity deviation, small parts, needle puncture and tensile resistance, boiling water resistance, thermal impact resistance, safety retention, etc. of baby bottles, which are applicable to various materials such as plastic, glass, metal, ceramic, silicone rubber, rubber, etc., including the bottle body, nipple, and auxiliary components.
Multiple requirements have been added relative to foreign standards
The reporter learned that the new national standard applies to baby bottles (bottle bodies, nipples, and auxiliary components) made of one or more materials such as plastic, glass, metal, ceramics, silicone rubber, rubber, etc. Compared with other standards, it applies to a more complete range of materials and categories, covering various types of baby bottles and nipple products on the market. At the same time, according to the usage habits of Chinese consumers, multiple requirements have been added compared to foreign standards, such as sealing performance, light transmission performance, overall drop performance, warning signs for through-hole needles and gravity balls, etc.
In foreign countries, milk bottles and pacifiers mainly use the EU standard EN14350 "Infant and Child Products - Drinking Utensils - Safety Requirements and Testing Methods". The important difference between the new national standard and the EU standard is that it has added technical requirements for glass milk bottles that Chinese families like to use, including heat shock resistance, internal stress, mechanical impact strength, and water resistance. Li Shili said that the product technical indicators of the new national standard are more comprehensive and detailed, and the testing conditions are stricter. These requirements help further standardize the safety performance of plastic and glass milk bottles, prevent deformation and breakage of the bottles, etc
Wu Guolin believes that because this standard has high requirements and is mandatory, it will play a positive role in regulating product design, improving material safety, and other aspects. It will have a significant impact on both consumers and the healthy development of the entire industry.
For import and export enterprises related to infant and toddler products, Guangzhou Customs reminds them that during the one-year transition period of standard implementation, they should comprehensively learn and master the new standards as soon as possible, pay attention to differences from the current implementation standards in product design, production, and inspection, and redesign product and packaging labeling and instruction information according to the requirements of the new national standards to meet the mandatory national standards.
Attachment: Mechanical performance testing of glass milk bottles (provided by Guangzhou Customs)
1. Thermal shock resistance test
The heat-resistant impact resistance of the glass bottle body should meet the requirements in the following table:
Mandatory national standards for baby bottles and pacifiers will be implemented from November 1st
In the test, by simulating specific temperature environments in water and air, the test environment of the sample is replaced according to the standard requirements for a certain period of time, and a hot and cold water tank and electronic oven are used to achieve the effect of rapid heating and cooling temperature difference. Check the appearance of the sample for visible cracks or breakage after testing.
2. Internal stress testing
The standard requires that the apparent stress at the bottom of the glass bottle should be less than or equal to level 4, which reflects the annealing quality of the glass sample. According to the "interference color", the stress level of the glass sample can be qualitatively judged: if the color of the sample remains basically unchanged or only slightly changes, it indicates good annealing quality and proper process quality control; conversely, if the interference color changes significantly in certain parts, it indicates poor annealing quality and is prone to cracking in daily use.
3. Mechanical impact strength test
The standard requires that the mechanical impact strength of the glass bottle body should be greater than or equal to 0.10J, and the allowable number of ruptures for 8 impact samples should be less than or equal to 1. The testing principle is to use a pendulum impact to release the specified impact energy.
In addition to the additional technical requirements for glass milk bottles, in order to further meet the performance requirements of the domestic market, the new national standard also adds the following system performance requirements: boiling water resistance (to meet the requirements of boiling water disinfection and cleaning), transparency (to facilitate daily observation of the contents of the bottle), overall drop performance (to evaluate the impact of the bottle falling from a high place), and compressive deformation performance of the plastic bottle body (to detect whether the bottle body is easily deformed when subjected to force).
In the fourth quarter of 2020, the GB 38995-2020 standard for infant and toddler bottles and pacifiers was released, scheduled to be implemented from November 1, 2021, and is mandatory. This means that the era of no testing standards for infant and toddler products is over.
Jinan Zhongnuo, as a packaging testing instrument manufacturer with more than ten years of rich experience, closely follows policies and aims to provide users with packaging quality control integrity solutions. The experimental instruments produced, such as polarization stress tester, intelligent electronic tensile machine, glass bottle heat-resistant impact tester, glass bottle impact resistance tester, etc., are all used to test the performance of baby bottle nipples, providing equipment and technical support to ensure that baby bottle nipples meet national standards!