China Enforces New Baijiu Standard That Bans Non-Fermentation Additives

China has begun enforcing a new national quality standard for baijiu, the country’s traditional grain spirit, in a move that sets common rules for production, additives, alcohol strength and record-keeping across the category.

The standard, GB/T 48009-2026, took effect on November 1. It is a recommended national standard, meaning it serves as a unified benchmark for the industry rather than a mandatory regulation in itself. According to Chinese media reports, it applies general quality requirements across different aroma styles of baijiu and sets clearer boundaries for how the spirit should be made and documented.

One of the main provisions is a ban on adding coloring, aromatic or flavoring substances that do not come from baijiu’s own fermentation process. The rule also spells out basic requirements for grain raw materials and for the use of jiuqu, the fermentation starter used in Chinese spirits production.

The standard sets the allowable alcohol range for baijiu at 18% to 72% alcohol by volume. It also removes the previous practice of separating physicochemical indicators into different tracks for higher- and lower-alcohol products. Instead, product assessment is meant to follow a single general framework across the category.

Quality grades under the new rules are to be judged through a combination of sensory evaluation, production process and physicochemical indicators. The standard says grading should generally be limited to no more than two levels, a change that could reduce the wide range of quality labels sometimes seen in the market.

The measure also adds stricter traceability requirements for blending. Producers are expected to keep full records throughout the blending process, and production records are to be checked before a product leaves the factory. That documentation requirement may become one of the most important operational changes for distillers, especially for companies producing multiple styles or batches at scale.

For the beverage industry, the new framework could matter beyond baijiu alone. A more uniform standard gives producers a common reference point for quality control and may make it easier for distributors, retailers and regulators to distinguish traditional baijiu from products that rely on non-fermentation flavor or color inputs. Stronger batch records and blending logs could also improve traceability in a sector where authenticity and production claims carry commercial value.

The standard is overseen by China’s National Technical Committee for Baijiu Standardization, according to the report. Its rollout comes as baijiu producers continue to compete across a wide range of price points, aroma styles and regional identities, with product definition and category boundaries remaining important for both branding and regulation.

By requiring that color, aroma and taste come from fermentation rather than external additives, the new rule appears aimed at reinforcing a more consistent definition of baijiu. The record-keeping provisions, meanwhile, add a chain-of-production paper trail that may raise compliance demands for some producers while giving larger buyers and channel partners more detailed information about how products were made.

Chinese industry coverage has described the standard as a way to unify the baseline rules across aroma types and tighten oversight of blending practices. For distillers, that means the effect of the new framework is likely to be felt not only in product formulation, but also in factory documentation, internal controls and the way finished spirits are positioned in the market.