Danone Nutricia Debuts a New FSMP Product on the 3rd China International Import Expo

According to ComNews ^[1], Danone Nutricia displays nearly 40 Infant FSMP (Foods for Special Medical Purpose) products on the 3rd China International Import Expo ^[2] (CIIE), including

• Periflex series, for babies and children with phenylketonuria (PKU)

• Neocate 1+, hypoallergenic amino acid-based formula for children over 1-year-old (CBEC product)

• Aptamil allecure pepti syneo, extensively hydrolyzed whey protein formula (CBEC products)

• Pepti-Junior, whey-based extensively hydrolyzed infant formula (CBEC products)

• Fortini 1+, nutritionally complete formula, for babies over 1-year-old (CBEC products), etc.

Among all the exhibits, Fortini 1+ is a new product launched on the 3rd CIIE on Nov. 6, 2020. Fang Fang, director of the childcare business unit at Nutricia Advanced Medical Nutrition expressed, Nutricia will keep introducing cutting-edge products to China through platforms like CIIE* and support the healthy growth of every child in China.

Note: According to SAMR ^[3], CIIE exhibitors of special foods (infant formula, health food and FSMP products) can enjoy preferential policies to get their onsite inspection conducted first. The approval progress of registration certificates will be expedited in addition to help facilitate the product supply in China within 365 days.

Product highlight of Fortini 1+

Prolonging the product positioning of Infatrini, formula for premature or low birth weight infants, Fortini 1+ mainly targets at babies and children with or at risk of malnutrition after 1 year old. Malnutrition is a key influential factor in growth retardation. As revealed by the data mentioned in Healthy China Action Plan 2019-2030 ^[4] (read more at CL’s interpretation ^[5]), the prevalence rate of children who suffer from growth retardation aged under five years old reached 8.1% in China in 2013.

Designed specifically for this group, the recipe of Fortini 1+ provides high content of energy (100 kcal/100ml) and protein and is rich in vitamins and minerals. The addition of zinc will help to advance babies appetite. The combination of GOS and FOS in a ratio of 9:1 helps the maintenance of intestinal health.

At present, consumers can buy Fortini 1+ on CBEC platforms like Tmall Global and JD.com. For the benefit of more kids and for further expansion, Fortini 1+ also made a strategic agreement with KidsWant ^[6], a local company which provides one-stop service for mothers and kids under 14 years old. Chinese parents can experience the products in offline stores and place orders via their APP.

An overview of Danone’s product layout and its competitors

Up until Nov. 10, 2020, 55 FSMP products were granted the registration approvals.

The top 5 groups with the most registered FSMP products were

• Nestlé (12, including Wyeth),

• Abbott (8),

• Danone (5),

• Synutra (5),

• Beingmate (4).

Top 4 categories with the most approvals were

• nutritionally complete formula (17),

• premature/low birth weight infant formula (11),

• partially-hydrolyzed lactoprotein formula (6),

• lactose-free formula (6).

Nestlé

• Nutritionally complete formula and infant FSMP products (for infants under 1-year-old) are Nestlé’s main FSMP products.

• Among all the infant FSMP products, premature/low birth weight infant formula had the most registration approvals.

Abbott

• Infant FSMP products, especially the formula for premature/low birth weight infants, are Abbott’s main FSMP products.

• Besides the PediaSure (nutritionally complete formula) that produced according to China’s regulation, there are several other versions of PediaSure selling on Tmall Global ^[7], namely Australian version, Hong Kong version and U.K. version.

Danone

• Danone’s key FSMP product is its FSMP formula for people with phenylketonuria (PKU). At present, this category covers people with PKU across all age groups. During the Covid-2019 lockdown, Nutricia received a request from SAMR for help and together with the assistance of the Shanghai GAC Bureau, etc., it quickly shipped its FSMP products for children with PKU to China becoming a trending topic on social media.

• In August this year, Nutricia launched Neocate Junior ^[8] on CBEC platforms, which is also the first amino-based formula that targets children over 1 year old.

• Compared to other competitors, Danone has taken full advantage of the CBEC policy. As such, CBEC platforms have already become an important sales channel to Danone’s FSMP products and a crucial way for them to expand the categories that are allowed to be sold in China.

Synutra & Beingmate

• The product layout of Synutra and Beingmate are quite similar. At this stage, both of them mainly focus on the Infant FSMP products.

Notes

It was in May 2020 when a horrible scandal ^[9] broke out, in which a solid beverage was falsely advertised and sold as a FSMP product, that ChemLinked predicted that consumers would move on to more well-known brands which in turn might become a good opportunity for imported FSMP products.

However, enterprises should also be aware of the advertisement compliant of FSMP products. In October 2020, Abbott was fined over 1.9 million yuan ^[10] for the illegal advertising of PediaSure released on Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok). For additional ChemLinked analysis on the Abbott incident, please click here ^[11].

The advertisement of infant formula food for special medical purposes are prohibited as per specifications in “Implementation Rules of Food Safety Law ^[12].” The advertisement for Specific Full Nutritional Formula Food of FSMP is supervised the same as prescription medicine. FSMPs can only be advertised on professional medical and pharmaceutical journals appointed by both the health administrative department and drug supervision department under the State Council. View more information here at China Promulgates Interim Administrative Measures for Health Food, FSMP, Drug and Medical Device Advertising ^[13].