The revision of China’s Food Safety Law has been a topic of much speculation, the majority of which was answered upon the release of the revised draft on July 1st, 2014. Although the draft is still subject to a period of public consultation and possible amendment before final implementation, it is highly likely the new draft will be passed unchanged which should be of great interest to the global functional food and supplement industry.
Filing System for Health Food Management
According to Article 5 of Provisions for Health Food Registration (Interim), China Food and Drug Administration are in charge of registration approval of health foods. Prior to market release, health foods require registration with the CFDA and testing carried out in CFDA sanctioned testing institutes. This antiquated registration approval system has severely hindered the development of China’s health food industry and has been criticized as being an unscientific, costly and extremely drawn out process.
In this revised draft, it stipulates that “the health food using new raw materials or imported for the first time should be registered with CFDA. However, for the first time imported health food with safety and functional characteristics which can be evaluated under and comply with Chinese national standards and regulations will only require filing. The catalogue of foods subject to these simplified regulatory measures is currently being formulated and will be published by CFDA. Market access requirements for overseas health food enterprises will be significantly reduced and it is expected that global investment in the Chinese health food industry will greatly increase.
Expedited Market Access:
According to Article 19 of Provisions for Health Food Registration (Interim), imported health food can only be registered with CFDA after being sold in overseas market for more than one year. This clause has been removed from the revised draft. Now exporters need only provide a document proving that sales have been officially sanctioned by a national competent authority.
More stringent rules on health food advertising
China’s health food market is plagued by false and misleading product marketing. According to this revised draft, advertising the functional properties of a health food now require additional approval by CFDA. Manufacturers and operators will be responsible for the authenticity and legality of the advertisement, which shall be examined by CFDA prior to approval before issuance of an official approval document.
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