According to the requirements in the Food Safety Law of China, the new food raw materials and additives used for food production should pass the safety assessment of the National Health Commission (NHC). In recent years, with the support of favorable policies, enterprises have made many innovations, which promote the emergence of various new raw materials seeking compliance with relevant regulations. With the goal of helping enterprises to have an overview of the current food industry, this webinar will analyze the application approval of new food raw material and additives in China from 2018 to 2022, and share the latest information of research and compliance progress of those hot food raw materials such as HMOs, NMN, and postbiotics.

CIRS Group is to attend the Boao Health Food Science Conference & Expo (FHE) on 22-25 February 2023 in Hainan Province, China and will set a booth (Booth No.: C23) during the expo.

On November 17, CIRS Group was invited to attend the 2nd China Health Food Innovation and Development Forum & the First International Health Food Industry Forum held by Zhejiang Yangtze Delta Region Institute of TsingHua University and National Jiaxing Economic & Technological Development Zone Management Committee in Jiaxing.

In order to help enterprises understand the current situation of the industry and clarify the direction of application, CIRS Group will hold a webinar to introduce the correlation and difference between "new food raw materials" and "new food additives" (including ingredients produced by transgenic technology), and talk about the latest progress of hot ingredients such as "breast milk oligosaccharide (HMOs), β-nicotinamide single nucleotide (NMN)".

In the past, except for registration of new enzymes produced by GMMs, other registrations of new food additives or food raw materials produced by GMMs are unacceptable by National Health Commission (NHC) in China, which means, these new food ingredients have no chance to enter the Chinese market as a food additive or food raw material. In the year of 2021, NHC opened the application channel for GMM food additives.

In recent years, domestic and overseas enterprises are enthusiastic about the registration of new food raw materials in China. In 2021 alone, 27 new food raw materials were accepted by the National Health Commission (NHC), more than two times the number accepted in 2020. To apply for a new food raw material, the applicant needs to complete the preparation of a series of materials such as the raw material development report, safety assessment report and production process material. In order to help enterprises understand the status of new food raw material application and management system in China, CIRS Group will hold a webinar in June 2022.

In the past few years, some solid beverage products posing as FSMP products, infant formula products, and even food supplements in the Chinese market. Those solid beverage products use incompliant labels and advertisements with all kinds of function claims to mislead the consumers. In order to help consumers better recognize those products, China authority SAMR has taken the action to investigate those products, and issued new labeling regulations for solid beverages, effective since June 1st of 2022.

In 2021, China has expanded the health food filing dictionary, some functional ingredients such as Coenzyme q10 has been officially included in the filing dictionary, also DHA and protein may be included in the filing dictionary soon. A series of new regulations are assisting the health food filing to a new stage. However, the functional evaluation test method for the registration process has not been implemented, how do the enterprises plan for new product registration becomes the focus. In the meanwhile, the authorities have published many food supplement label related regulations, and many of them have the big impact on the health food labels from 2022.

On 12th Apr. 2021, the General Administration of Customs, P.R.China (GACC) issued the Registration and Administration of Overseas Manufacturers for Imported Foods (GACC Decree No.248), which has come into force as from 1st Jan. 2022. From 1st Jan, 2022, food products imported into China without the GACC registration have the potential risks to be held by the local customs in China. In the past six months, there have been some updates from GACC regarding this registration obligation including the online registration system and the relevant guidance. Currently, it’s challenging for many overseas companies due to the limited time and registration process.

On April 12, 2021, GACC issued the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Registration and Administration of Overseas Manufacturers for Imported Food (GACC Decree No.248). It is believed that the vast majority of companies who exporting food to China know that “all overseas manufacturers need to complete the overseas facilities registration before January 1, 2022, otherwise the subsequent export may be affected’. After issuing the new regulations, GACC has also done a lot of work and efforts to help enterprises complete the registration work as soon as possible. At the end of September, GACC notified embassies and concerned authorities of the registration. In November, GACC launched the online registration system; issued the interpretation of GACC Decree No.248 and the guidelines for the overseas facilities registration. However, because the involved countries and foreign food companies are very many indeed, it is inevitable that many companies have problems and difficulties in registration.