On September 8th, the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Announcement on the Implementation of Digital Labels for Prepackaged Foods" (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement"). Based on the "General Principles for Prepackaged Food Labels of National Food Safety Standards" (GB 7718-2025) released in March this year, the application requirements for digital labels have been further refined, providing a basis for consumers and the food industry to enjoy the "dividend" of digital labels. The innovative application of digital labels to meet consumers' nutritional and health needs marks the official entry of China's pre packaged food label management into a new stage of digitization. Digital labels have broken through the boundary of "materialization" of food labels. In addition to displaying food information more clearly through the zooming function of digital label pages, the audio and video functions set by digital labels greatly enrich the display form of food label information and effectively solve the problem of difficult readability of food labels. In response to the pain point of limited physical label layout, the Announcement explicitly allows the display of more legal information through digital labels that cannot be displayed due to limitations in physical label layout, including: specific sources and production process details of ingredients, product origin traceability information, detailed recommendations for consumption methods, food safety and nutritional characteristic descriptions, and full chain product traceability information. By applying digital tags, the display format of food label information can be greatly enriched, allowing consumers to learn more about food safety, nutrition and health knowledge through digital tags, promoting them as a good carrier for science popularization and risk communication, and providing space for food enterprises to better transmit food information. Through the application of digital tags, simplifying the identification of producer addresses on food labels can make food labels more focused on the information that consumers are concerned about, while reducing production costs for food enterprises and empowering green and low-carbon development. Standardize first and ensure orderly market supervision. The Announcement clarifies that digital labels are the relevant information displayed on physical labels of pre packaged food through digital technology or means. The content must comply with the Food Safety Law and the mandatory labeling regulations of national standards. Any modification or update of the digital label content must be fully recorded, including the modification content, time, and operator information, to ensure traceability throughout the process and avoid tampering, in order to ensure the orderly development of market supervision work. To ensure user experience and easy access to digital tag information, the Announcement requires that the content of digital tags must be clear, eye-catching, and easy to read, and strictly prohibits pop ups, bay windows, and other elements that interfere with normal reading; And vigorously advocate the integration of digital label QR codes with existing packaging QR codes to achieve "multi code integration". Through digital label QR codes, multiple functions such as food information display, food traceability, and settlement can be realized, ensuring the efficiency of enterprise management. In recent years, the National Health Commission and relevant departments have been working together to optimize food label management and build a new ecosystem of digital labels through win-win cooperation. At present, a relatively complete food labeling standard system consisting of national food safety standards such as "General Rules for Pre packaged Food Labeling" (GB 7718) and "General Rules for Nutrition Labeling of Pre packaged Food" (GB 28050) has been established, which plays an important role in regulating the labeling behavior of pre packaged food in China, ensuring food safety, and satisfying consumers' right to know. As an important measure for convenience, benefit, and strong management, the application of digital labels will effectively solve the problem of consumers' difficulty in reading labels, making food labels truly play a role in benefiting and warming people's hearts. In order to further optimize digital label management and promote the comprehensive application of digital labels, in accordance with the deployment requirements of the National Health Commission, the National Health Commission has designated 2025 as the "Food Digital Label Promotion Year" and organized various provinces, cities, and related food industries across the country to promote the application of digital labels. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan and other provinces and cities have actively responded and carried out effective publicity and promotion activities. Mengniu, Luhua, Pepsi, Feihe, Sanyuan, Kangshifu, Starbucks, Shuanghui, Guangming and other enterprises have actively responded, with over a thousand food application digital labels covering major food categories such as dairy products, grain and oil, baked goods, meat products, beverages, etc. The release of this announcement can further provide guarantees and guidance for food enterprises to use digital labels and for market regulatory departments to carry out orderly supervision. The National Health Commission, together with the State Administration for Market Regulation, will increase promotion efforts to truly integrate digital labels into consumers' daily lives. The digital upgrade of food labels has been fully recognized by the food industry. Digital label application companies have stated that "digital labels are an important step in the digital upgrade of the industry. The issuance of this announcement will provide sufficient guarantees for the comprehensive application of digital labels and inject momentum into the innovative development of food production enterprises. After the release of GB 7718-2025, the application requirements of digital labels have been clarified, but many food companies are still in a wait-and-see state. Food companies have concerns about the compliance of digital label applications, which to some extent restricts the application of digital labels. The issuance of this announcement not only addresses the concerns of food production enterprises but also greatly promotes the rapid popularization of digital label technology in the industry by encouraging the integration of multiple codes, simplifying labels, and clarifying measures to display more information on digital labels. ”It is reported that in addition to continuously optimizing the display information of digital tags, digital tags will also be connected with online food management, smart homes, etc., constantly innovating application scenarios, creating an ecological chain of food digital tags, and making digital tags benefit people's livelihoods and warm their hearts. In order to enhance the recognition of digital labels, the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, in conjunction with the China Article Numbering Center, has designed an exclusive logo for digital labels, which serves as the exclusive identifier for food producers. (New Society)