Continuing to make good on its commitment to regulate the Chinese health food industry the CFDA has proposed a number of new draft regulations aimed at improving the requirements for labeling and generally improving the supervision and enforcement of food regulations for health foods. Following on from recent regulatory updates and the nationwide implementation of the “four non special action” program the industry is set for further upheaval with the release on September 29thof the CFDA’s draft regulation aptly named “draft to further regulate health food supervision and management and crack down on illegal activities.” The momentum and national interest generated during the “four non special action” has provided the government the ideal platform from which to launch its next set of improvements. The general supervisory, enforcement and management improvements can be broadly categorized into six key areas. The most significant developments in these key areas are:
Requirement for labels to bear health food approval numbers.
Various dosage forms (pills, powders etc.) now require clearly labeled RDI’s. Ban on sale of all imported products without health food approval numbers. (The ban will be enforced from January 1st 2014.) These products must now have a valid health food manufacturing certificate.
More stringent control on raw material requirements, raw materials for health foods must be approved for health food use.
For companies outsourcing manufacturing the health food registrant must ensure that all manufacturing processes are conducted in accordance with relevant regulations.
Online sale of Health Foods will be targeted.
Increase consumer awareness
In a CFDA release dated September 30th it also appears that the labeling requirements for health foods are also set for a major overhaul and if enacted unchanged the draft regulation “Health Food Labeling Requirements and Specifications” will increase the compliance requirements for importers and indigenous producers. For a translated version of the draft regulations or to request additional information or more detailed analysis on any of the covered topics please contact info@chemlinked.com
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