Fat control?

Staying up late while maintaining health has become a state of life for young people today

According to the latest data from the China Business Industry Research Institute, the functional food market is expected to exceed 600 billion yuan in 2022

The reporter of "China Consumer News" saw in the official flagship store of BuffX on a certain platform that the green Buff candy claims that "eyes are not tired, the vision is clear", and the pink Buff gummy claims that "come 2 capsules full of collagen" and "give you girly muscles"

Many functional foods promote various effects in product introductions

Functional foods are not health foods

At present, functional foods on the market mainly include gummies, tablet candies, meal replacement milkshakes, etc.

In addition to BuffX, the reporter also found that the slogans of the sleep gummies in the overseas flagship store of Joliyoyo on a certain platform have words such as "2 before going to bed, sleep soundly all night", "relieve stress", "control sugar and anti-carbohydrate"; Minayo, Tipsyou, Hala, etc.

According to the "Food Safety Law", China's food categories can be divided into two categories: ordinary food and special food

So what exactly is a "functional food" category? In this regard, Zhang Yongjian, director of the Food and Drug Industry Development and Supervision Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the Food Safety Law divides food into ordinary food and special food, and stipulates that ordinary food cannot make functional claims

He further explained that the "Food Production License Classification Catalog" divides the types of food in China, with a total of 32 major categories and 109 sub-categories (excluding "other foods"), and all of them have safety corresponding to this category.

It is understood that the main difference between ordinary food and health food is that the approval number of the health food is "Healthy Food Health", and the product packaging has the health food logo "blue hat"

The functional foods sold in the above-mentioned stores do not have "blue hat" certification, and are neither health food nor special medical food.

Buffx was penalized for illegal promotion

Bai Wenxi, chief economist of IPG China, told the reporter of "China Consumer News" that many functional food promotion effects, including beauty, weight loss, sleep aid, etc.

According to the first paragraph of Article 38 of the Regulations on the Implementation of the Food Safety Law: “For food other than health food, no health care function shall be claimed

Zhang Yongjian said that in reality, there are indeed a large number of ordinary foods making functional claims, which is also a headache and tangled issue for the management department

According to the reporter's understanding, in October 2021, Bafu (Hangzhou) Technology Co.

The administrative penalty decision disclosed by the Zhejiang Government Service Network shows that Bafu's "taurine bubble lozenges" product, based on relevant literature and materials, promotes the efficacy of the corresponding ingredients in the product and then promotes the product (except for "taurine bubble lozenges").

In addition, the administrative penalty decision pointed out that the caffeine in its "taurine bubble lozenges" has the effect of refreshing the mind, preventing drowsiness, preventing drowsiness, keeping people awake, refreshed, and more focused on doing things, and then on the product promotion page.
The corresponding claims on the efficacy of "taurine bubble lozenges" violated the relevant provisions of Article 10, paragraph 1 of the "Zhejiang Province Advertising Management Regulations", and the function of promoting certain ingredients expressly or implied that they have specific health care functions.
(relieve physical fatigue)
.

Zhang Yongjian said that in the current management system, functional claims of health foods are allowed, and there are a total of 27 functions.
Nutrient supplement claims are managed according to health food
.
"There is a whole set of management system for health food, especially the 'inspection and technical evaluation' of health food function, which is the technical judgment of whether the product is marketed or not
.
"

According to the reporter's understanding, the health benefits claimed by functional foods currently on the market generally lack evidence, but they often use "edge balls" in advertisements to mislead consumers with false concepts
.
(Editor Li Chuang)