Functional Foods (called health foods in China) are a hugely important sector of the Chinese food industry. Food plays an integral part in the prophylactic philosophy underpinning Chinese Traditional Medicine and because of this Chinese consumers are particularly receptive to these products, consequently this sector has seen rapid growth and expansion in line with global trends. Regulatory fundamentals in China bear striking similarities to those of the US and EU, with foods bearing health claims being subject to stringent regulatory requirements. However this is where the similarities end. In practice the regulation of this Chinese industry is extremely lax evidenced by recent statistics which have highlighted the widespread use of false and misleading health claims.
A CFDA investigation of health food advertisements appearing in Newspapers and TV (encompassing some 118 provincial TV channels and over 100 municipal newspapers) revealed that a staggering 90% of all advertisements were in violation of national standards. Over a third of these violations were composed of health food products bearing therapeutic claims, in direct violation of one of the fundamental requirements of Chinese regulations.
Whilst depicting Chinese enterprise operating within this sector of the food industry as shysters standing on soap boxes pedaling snake oil might be an overly indulgent metaphor to describe the current status of the Chinese Health food industry, it does however adequately describe a disturbing sector of this industry. The results of this study underline the glaring lack of regulatory supervision and oversight and also undermines the reputation and development of genuine innovation in this industry.
However the fact that the CFDA both commissioned this investigation and openly revealed the alarming figures points to both its appetite to clean up China’s Food industry and its new policy of transparency. New name, new structure and new leadership, the CFDA is stamping its authority on the industry and following from this study ,the CFDA has announced that 32 health food certificate holders must quit all business activates immediately and remove all products bearing false health claims. These 32 offenders will be subject to further investigation with the looming possibility of criminal proceedings.
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