On April 23, the China State Administration for Market Regulation issued a notice on “Deepening the Governance of the Internet Advertising Ecosystem” and simultaneously released the “Key Tasks for Regulating the Order of the Internet Advertising Market”. The rectification work will last for six months starting from the date of publication.

To help companies better understand the design requirements for the labeling of prepackaged special dietary foods, CIRS Group has compiled a summary of the key changes in this draft for reference, based on the draft and its compilation notes.

It can be hard to keep track of regulatory deadlines, so the CIRS team has put together this helpful infographic to make it a little bit easier. Scroll down to the bottom to find links to each of the dates mentioned.

On January 27, 2026, Taiwan released the “Guidelines for Safety Assessment of Novel Food Ingredients”, which clarify the definition, required submission materials, and regulatory procedures for novel food ingredients in Taiwan. The guidelines also specify documentation requirements for ingredients produced using genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs), ensuring the safety of such food ingredients for consumption.

On April 22, 2026, China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA) issued 4 new food materials. Comments are welcomed before May 22, 2026.

On April 17, 2026, the National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment solicited public comments on expanding the scope of use for the food additive Carmine and the food nutrient enhancer 3'-sialyllactose sodium salt.

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are the third most abundant solid nutrient in breast milk, following only lactose and lipids. HMOs form a variety of complex structures through different combinations of five basic components—glucose, galactose, N-acetylglucosamine, L-fucose, and N-acetylneuraminic acid—and possess multiple functions, including regulating the gut microbiota, establishing the intestinal barrier, boosting immunity, and enhancing cognitive development.

As of March 31, 2026, a total of 20 Foods for Special Medical Purposes (FSMPs) were approved in the first quarter of 2026, bringing the cumulative number of approved FSMPs in China to 310.

As of March 31, 2026, based on publicly available information from the EU information retrieval platform (Open EFSA), CIRS has performed a statistical review of novel food (NF) application trends in the European Union (EU) for the first quarter of 2026.

In recent years, the number of GRAS notices submitted to the U.S. FDA has been on a steady upward trend. Since 2026, the U.S. FDA has been continuously updating its inventory of GRAS notices. CIRS Group has conducted a detailed statistical analysis and summary of FDA GRAS notices from January 2026 to March 2026, which is provided here for companies’ reference.