China’s Health food industry offers huge potential for foreign investment and established brands looking to enter the market, however its development has been hindered by a prohibitively restrictive regulatory system over the course of the past ten years. Currently, China health food industry is undergoing a major legislative reform. New health regulations have been established, namely Administrative Measures for Registration and Filing of Health Foods, Administrative Measures on Health Food Labeling, and Administrative Measures on Health Food Raw Material Directory and Health Function Directory.
Greater Industry Self-Regulation
A major focus of the new regulations is to place a greater onus on industry to self-regulate. Under the previous system the CFDA and its subordinate provincial FDA’s were tasked with managing pre/post market regulation and supervision of the whole industry with little emphasis on individual corporate responsibility. Under the new filing system enterprise will be required to ensure the quality of products sold on the market. Although the compliance requirements of health food may at first glance appear reduced under the new filing system, it has been developed with the goal of motivating industry self-regulation of product quality and compliance with a view to severely punishing any post market improprieties detected.
Importance of raw material management
The focus of health food management has been shifted from finished products to raw materials. The new Food Safety Law explicitly stipulates that the raw materials listed in the approved health food raw material directory will only apply to health foods rather than any other conventional foods, which will eliminate loopholes exploited by companies selling products with health food ingredients but marketed as conventional foods.
Suggestions for health food enterprises:
Under the new regulatory framework the rules for health foods will be more clearly defined and the regulatory system aligned with international best practice. In the past China’s market has focused on a limited range of products but with the publication of a positive list of health food raw materials the potential for innovation and product diversification have improved greatly.
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