Recently, VDK’s synthetically produced β-carotene, manufactured using synthetic biology technology, obtained self-GRAS notification. This milestone signifies the product’s approval as a safe food ingredient for sale and use in the American market, providing crucial support for VDK’s global expansion strategy. This notification was fully supported by CIRS Group.

On January 15, 2026, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), in collaboration with the National Health Commission and the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, released the “Catalog of Permitted Health Function Claims for Health Foods: Helps maintain bone and joint health (alleviating Pain or stiffness/reducing cartilage damage)” along with supporting documents. These regulations took effect on January 1, 2026. This marks the first new function added to the health function catalog since the SAMR released the “Implementation Rules for New Functions and Product Technical Evaluation of Health Foods (Trial)” in 2023.

As of December 31, 2025, according to the public information of the EU information retrieval platform Open EFSA, CIRS has conducted statistical analysis on the approval trends of Novel Food (hereinafter referred to as NF) in the EU in the fourth quarter of 2025.

In 2025, GRAS notice remained highly active. To provide a comprehensive overview of the annual trends, CIRS Group conducted a systematic review and analysis of GRAS notice in 2025, offering insights and references for enterprises.

On November 27, 2025, EFSA updated a series of administrative guidance regarding novel food, food improvement agents (including food additives, food enzymes and food spices), and feed additives. This update was not only a mere streamlining of application procedures, but a signal for EU to raising regulatory requirements.

As of December 31, 2025, a total of 59 Foods for Special Medical Purposes (FSMPs) were approved in 2025 (registration number: 国食注字TY2025XXXX), bringing the cumulative number of approved FSMPs in China to 290.

To continuously optimize the port business environment and support the development of import trade in substances with both food and medicinal uses, the General Administration of Customs (GAC), the National Health Commission (NHC), the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), and the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) have decided to pilot the implementation of classified import management for certain food–medicinal substances.

According to the information released by the Center for Food Evaluation, State Administration for Market Regulation and the Special Food Information Query Platform, in 2025, State Administration for Market Regulation issued a total of 2130 health food (dietary supplement) registration approvals. Among them, 200 approvals were for new health food products, including 194 domestic products and 6 imported products.

Recently, China's National Health Commission (NHC) issued notifications regarding the approval and review of “Three new foods” (new food raw materials, new food additives, and new food-related products).

On December 17, 2025, the Official Journal of the European Union published the European Commission's guidance document for the implementation of Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/3190.