South Korea’s Amendment No. 21948 to the Special Act on Imported Food Safety Management takes effect March 16, 2027. It mandates the revocation of overseas facility registrations extended through fraudulent means and switches the distribution traceability threshold for imported health functional foods from domestic sales amount to customs import value.

On October 10, 2026, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released the Draft Amendment to the Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China for public comment. The proposed amendments introduce several notable regulatory updates for the health food sector, aimed at streamlining approvals and updating product labeling requirements.

Navigating China’s complex dietary supplement market requires a clear regulatory strategy. Created by CIRS Group and HPA-Global, this 5-part series breaks down critical market-entry essentials: General Trade vs. CBEC, bonded warehousing, GACC facility registration, Blue Hat filings, and practical timeline/cost considerations to help international brands ensure full compliance.

To help companies respond to these policy changes, CIRS Group, together with HPA-Global, is to host a free webinar on the Policy Trends in Cross-Border E-Commerce for Imported Health Foods & Blue Hat Registration and Filing on Wednesday, 12:00-13:00 pm (EST), August 12, 2026.

China’s SAMR issued draft provisions replacing its 20-year-old probiotic regulations, restricting products strictly to live, non-GMO strains with full strain-level identity and genetic stability data. Commercial ingredients are now limited to single-strain formulas, while minimum daily live bacteria requirements increase tenfold to 107 CFU/mL(g). Crucially, the draft introduces a filing pathway alongside traditional registration, significantly accelerating market entry for approved strains while raising overall technical compliance standards.

China’s SAMR has proposed updated health food registration rules, expanding regulations beyond wild species to cover all plant and animal ingredients. The draft tightens prohibitions on animal materials while easing certain cultivated plant restrictions. Businesses must ensure supply chain traceability, verify species lists, and adjust non-compliant product formulations.

In order to help enterprises better understand the filing status of health food (dietary supplements) in China, CIRS has gathered statistics on health foods approved in 2026 (as of June 30) and analyzed them from multiple perspectives.

According to the information released by the Center for Food Evaluation of the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Special Food Information Query Platform, a total of 1136 health food registration approvals were issued in the first half of 2026. Among these, 121 were for new health food products, including 3 imported products.

China’s SAMR has released Q&As on the implementation of the Administrative Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Entrusted Food Production (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), further clarifying the requirements for entrusted food production. Notably, the production of health foods cannot be outsourced in stages (split-stage production). The Measures will take effect on December 1, 2026; enterprises should prepare for compliance in advance.

Recently, CIRS Group has received numerous inquiries from health food companies regarding the registration of overseas manufacturing enterprises in China. Many companies have reported that when applying to the General Administration of Customs for registration in China, they are required to submit the registration certificate/filing certificate for health food; some companies have also reported that health foods imported through cross-border e-commerce are also required by customs to submit the registration certificate in China. In response to this question, CIRS Group has conducted extensive verification