Feed Additive New Regulation Explained: Latest Changes in GB 7300 Parts 1 & 2, with CATO Reference Standard Solutions

As the livestock and feed processing industries transition toward high-quality development, the quality standards and testing supervision of feed additives are accelerating into an era of "unified mandatory standards." The State Administration for Market Regulation and the Standardization Administration of China are continuously promoting the integration and release of the GB 7300 Feed Additives mandatory national standard system.

Recent standard developments have released two key time nodes: the mandatory standards for riboflavin (vitamin B2) and taurine, two widely used products, will officially take effect on September 1, 2026; following closely, the four vitamin products newly added in Part 2 will take effect on January 1, 2027. This round of upgrades includes both the "upgrading of recommended national standards (GB/T) to mandatory national standards (GB)" and filling the long-standing gap of dedicated national standards for some products.

CATO reviews the latest release list, replacement relationships, and implementation nodes of GB 7300 Part 1 (amino acids) and Part 2 (vitamins) to help enterprises and testing laboratories plan compliance preparations in advance.

1. Part 1: Amino Acids, Amino Acid Salts, and Their Analogs

Part 1 currently maintains a total of 5 published products, GB 7300.101~105, with no new products added for the time being; however, taurine (105) is about to reach its mandatory standard implementation node and requires special attention:

Table 1: Standard List of Part 1 Amino Acids, Amino Acid Salts, and Their Analogs

The new mandatory standard for taurine specifies the physicochemical indicators and quantitative requirements under different synthetic routes (such as the ethylene oxide method and the 2-aminoethanol method), and the detection methods and acceptance criteria may differ substantially from the previous ones.

This part as a whole corresponds to the core raw materials of the "low-protein + amino acid balance" diet technology — by precisely supplementing limiting amino acids, it can both reduce crude protein usage and nitrogen emissions while maintaining animal growth performance, which is the mainstream direction of current feed formulation optimization and the background for the continued expansion of the amino acid additive category.

💡 Trend note for products not yet included in the standard: Commonly used amino acids such as L-lysine hydrochloride still follow the previous individual standards (e.g., GB 34466-2017). Whether they will be integrated into the GB 7300 numbering system in the future is worth continuous attention.

2. Part 2: Vitamins and Vitamin-Like Substances

Part 2 is the "main event" of this round of standard updates. In addition to the already-implemented products, the mandatory standard upgrade for riboflavin is about to take effect, and the four newly added products will also become fully effective in early 2027:

Table 2: Standard List of Part 2 Vitamins and Vitamin-Like Substances

Several changes worth noting:

• Recommended upgraded to mandatory: riboflavin (vitamin B2) originally followed the recommended standard GB/T 7297-2006; this time it is included for the first time under the mandatory national standard GB 7300.205, meaning the relevant indicators are no longer "for reference" but "must be satisfied."

• Replacing old standards: choline chloride, nicotinamide, and L-calcium ascorbate respectively replace the previous individual standards GB 34462-2017, GB 7301-2017, and GB 34463-2017, and the technical requirements and test methods are very likely to undergo substantial changes.

• Filling the gap: cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) previously lacked a dedicated national product standard for a long time, and this is its first inclusion in the GB 7300 system.

• Standards in progress: products such as inositol and D-calcium pantothenate are currently in the national standard planning (drafting/in development) stage and have not yet been officially released, and are also worth continuous tracking.

The testing difficulties of vitamin additives are not exactly the same as those of amino acids: vitamins are generally unstable and easily degraded by light, temperature, and humidity. Stabilization processes such as coating and microencapsulation are increasingly widely used in the industry, which makes the identification and quantification of "degradation products," "isomers," and other related substances more important.

3. CATO Provides Reference Standard Compliance Solutions for the New Mandatory Standards

Corresponding to the above standard changes, the analytical reference standards that CATO can provide include (for details, please visit the official website: https://www.cato-chem.com/)

• Cyanocobalamin / vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) — corresponding to GB 7300.209

• Nicotinamide — corresponding to GB 7300.207

• Choline Chloride — corresponding to GB 7300.206

• Calcium Ascorbate — corresponding to GB 7300.208

• Riboflavin / vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) — corresponding to GB 7300.205

• Taurine — corresponding to GB 7300.105

• L-Threonine, glycine, betaine, and betaine hydrochloride series — corresponding to GB 7300.101/102/203/204