Current Regulations for China Health Food
The current laws and regulations regarding Chinese health food can be mainly classified into 5 aspects as follows:
- Laws
- Health food registration and filing regulations
- Import & export regulations
- Regulations of health food production and operation in China
- Food safety national standards (GB)
Take the regulations of health food registration and filing as an example, former CFDA has set up a complete new regulation system for health food registration and filing in 2017.
Category |
Major regulations |
|
Health food registration and filing regulations |
Administrative Measures on Health Food Registration and Filing |
|
Registration |
Health Food Registration Review Rules (2016 version) |
|
Health Food Registration Application Service Guideline (2016 version) |
||
Filing |
Health Food Raw Materials Directory (the first batch) – Nutrition Supplement Raw Materials |
|
Directory of Health Function Available to Claim for Health Food (the first batch) |
||
Health Food Filing Guideline (Trail) |
||
Available Excipients for Health Food Filing and Their Usage Rules (Trail) |
||
Main Production Processes of Health Food Filing Products (Trail) |
Administrative Departments of Health Food
1. Former CFDA has been integrated into SAMR in 2018. And presently SAMR is in charge of health food registration approval, imported health food filing approval, and comprehensive management of Chinese health food market, etc.
2. Customs is responsible for customs clearance, supervision and inspection of imported health food, etc.
3. NHC is responsible for formulating and publishing GB standards in conjunction with relevant departments.
Regulation Change in Present and Future
Health food filing is the biggest change in recent years
Health food filing policy is unprecedented in China. It simplifies the procedures of administrative examination, which will help to invigorate the market, and reduce the enterprise burden. However, the available raw materials for filing products are limited in Health Food Raw Materials Directory, and the excipients are limited in the Available Excipients for Health Food Filing as well, which make the filing policy become a double-edged sword. The restrictive food raw materials and excipients may lead manufacturers to produce similar products, and the competition will be getting tougher.
Future trends
In the future, China government will further expand the Health Food Raw Material Directory. It can be expected that with the expanding of the Directory, more products will turn to filing, and the products for registration will be decreased (The registered products will be more inclined to innovative products).
Section 3 of which is issued by CIRS provides more detailed information according to below structure:
- Current Regulations for China Health Food
- Administrative Departments of Health Food
- Regulation Changes in Present and Future
The summary of each section in the Guideline is introduced by a series of articles which are available as following. If it is of your interest, please kindly click to get information.
Section 1: Information to Know before Health Food Exportation to China
Section 2: How Many Health Food are Registered in China
Section 3: Chinese Health Food Regulation in Present and Future
Section 4: Timeline and Budget for Health Food Access to Chinese Market
Section 5: How does Chinese Government Supervise the Health Food?
In addition, if you would like to get the to get more complete information, please click here to order it.
Editor:
CIRS Food Technical Team: Established in 2012, CIRS Food Technical Team has more than 80% masters with degrees of Food Safety or Food Engineering and more than 50% members from oversea renowned universities. Since it was founded, based on the rich experience of regulatory compliance and deep understanding of Chinese food regulations and industry, food specialists have made comprehensive and reasonable solutions for many oversea food companies to complete Chinese food regulatory compliance progress.
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