The revised draft of Food Safety Law was released in July 2014. China’s health food industry is expected to change greatly. However, the main issues facing China’s health food industry have yet to be resolved. During CRAC 2014, health food expert Mr. Lin Fei from China’s National Institute for Food and Drug Control was invited as the guest speaker where he presented the current status and future plans for development in China’s health food industry.
Specialized agencies established for health food administration:
A Health food administration office under the Department of Food Safety Supervision III has been established to formulate the working system and technical specifications of health food supervision and to take charge of the registration approval of health foods.
The National Technical Committee of Health Food Standardization was established to review old standards, and organize relevant experts to formulate new regulations and standards on health food.
Paying more attention to surveillance than approval:
Previously, registration approval was the major checkpoint in health food administration, while post market surveillance after approval was not prioritized. This situation is changing under the newly revised draft of Food Safety Law.
The regulation and surveillance on health food market will be strengthened, including increased product sampling and inspection, and taking more severe punitive measures on non-conforming products.
The minimum qualifying requirements for authorized health food testing agencies will be increased, and only Grade A tertiary hospitals certified and recognized by the state are entitled to carry out health food clinical certification.
Will the “registration approval system” be replaced by a “filing system”?
The revised draft of Food Safety Law stipulates that health food using new raw materials or imported for the first time should be registered with CFDA. However, for the first time imported health foods with safety and functional characteristics which can be evaluated under and comply with Chinese national standards and regulations will only require filing.
Mr. Lin suggested that health food registration will still be required for the foreseeable future. As there have been approximately 13,000 approved health food products, it is quite difficult for the authority to manage such a large amount of products without registration approval. However, the registration procedure for dietary supplements will be greatly simplified, and the time required for registration timeframe will also be greatly reduced.
It was also suggested by Mr. Lin that there has been a significant increase in the number of enterprises applying for health food registration since the release of China’s revised draft of the Food Safety Law. Products bearing the health food “blue cap” indicate that the product has been certified by the state and as such are inherently more credible.
We provide full-scale global food market entry services (including product registration, ingredient review, regulatory consultation, customized training, market research, branding strategy). Please contact us to discuss how we can help you by 
