The health food industry has further strengthened its equal emphasis on production and management

Health food is an important part of
China's health industry.
In recent years, market supervision departments at all levels have continued to carry out special clean-up and rectification actions in the health food industry, resolutely implemented the "four strictest" requirements, significantly improved the quality and safety level of health food, and significantly improved
market order.
From 2014 to 2021, the pass rate of health food sampling in China increased from 93% to more than
99%.
Over the years, China has accumulated a lot of experience in the supervision of health food, and further promoted the transformation of the health food industry from "development in standardization" to "standardized development" through management innovation, system innovation, method innovation and other means
.

Further promoting the "dual-track system"

In recent years, there has been good news in the field of health food in China, especially the "dual-track" reform implemented at the policy level, which has become the source of the development of the health food market
.

The Administrative Measures for the Registration and Filing of Health Foods, implemented in 2016, make the registration and filing of health foods "dual-track" in parallel
.
The Measures adjust the original single registration system to a management model that combines registration and filing, and implement recordal management
for health foods whose raw materials have been included in the catalogue of health food raw materials, as well as health foods imported for the first time that are supplemental with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.

In 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Health Commission formulated and issued the Measures for the Administration of Health Food Raw Materials Catalogue and Health Function Catalogue, providing institutional guarantees
for the implementation of the "dual-track system".
Since then, China's relevant departments have accelerated the operation of the "dual-track system" of health food registration and filing, established an open and diversified health food catalog management system, and taken the raw material catalog and functional catalog as the starting point, further strengthening the equal emphasis on production and management and social co-governance
.

According to data from the special food information platform of the State Administration for Market Regulation, as of August 2022, there are a total of 19,474 registered health foods, with an average of about 600 approved each year
.
Among them, 274 domestic health foods were approved for registration in 2021, and 121 domestic health foods have been approved for registration this year
.

As of February 10, 2021, the number of health food filed in China has reached more than
10,000.
Among them, 3,088 filing vouchers
were issued in 2021.
As of July 5, 2022, 1,483 filing vouchers
have been issued this year.

Wang Hesong, secretary general of the Health Consulting Service Committee of the China Health Care Association, said that at present, China's health food access system is forming a new regulatory pattern
of "registration approval is a minority, filing is the majority".
The epidemic has made consumers pay more attention to their own health, the scale of online health food sales has grown rapidly, and new models such as live broadcast and short video have also promoted the rapid development of
the health food industry.

Li Liangqiu, executive vice president of the China Nutrition and Health Food Association, said that with the dividends of industry policies, the current "dual-track system" of health food registration and filing continues to deepen reform, and the discussion of new functions and new raw materials is gradually put on the agenda, and the demand for health food has shown a diversified growth trend
.

Zhou Shiping, director of the Special Food Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said that the "dual-track system" of health food registration and filing has been operated in an orderly manner, and a relatively complete regulatory system such as raw material catalog management, function claim catalog management, and registration and filing management has gradually formed
.
In the process of reform, it is necessary to continuously comply with the requirements of the development of the times, reform and innovate in regulatory methods, methods and means, and continue to give play to the role of traditional effective regulatory means, while actively exploring the use of credit supervision, smart supervision and other means to effectively improve the efficiency of
supervision.

Industry insiders believe that the transformation from the "single-track system" of health food registration to the "dual-track system" of registration and filing has effectively improved the efficiency of market access supervision and effectively realized the filing facilitation of market entities, which is a major breakthrough
in the reform of the "dual-track system".

A multi-pronged approach to rectify industry chaos

Among the 32 food production licensing categories in China, compared with other large-scale food industries, the health food market is small, but health food, as an important part of China's health industry, plays an irreplaceable role
in enhancing national physique, reducing medical expenditure, stimulating domestic demand, expanding employment, increasing taxes, and promoting national economic development.

Since 2014, the qualification rate of health food has been continuously improved
.
According to the statistics of food safety supervision and sampling in 2021 released by the State Administration for Market Regulation, in 2021, the national market supervision departments completed a total of 37,228 batches of food safety supervision and sampling inspection for health foods, and the pass rate of health food sampling inspection reached 99.
58%.

The pass rate of health food sampling ranked 7th among all 34 types of food, 2.
27 percentage points
higher than the average.

According to the data on health food supervision and sampling released by the market supervision departments of various provinces and municipalities across the country, in the first half of this year, the pass rate of health food supervision and sampling inspection was more than
99%.
Among the reasons for non-conformity, microbial excess and insufficient nutrient content are the main problems
.

In 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation and other departments carried out nationwide actions to rectify the chaos in the "health care" market, and achieved remarkable results
.
In terms of law enforcement and handling cases, a total of 21,152 cases were opened nationwide, with a case value of 13.
002 billion yuan, 9,505 cases closed, and 664 million yuan
in fines and forfeitures.
446 cases were
transferred to judicial authorities.
It received 44,000 consumer complaints and reports, and recovered 123 million yuan
in economic losses for consumers.
Since the launch of the "100-day campaign", the State Administration for Market Regulation has exposed 100 typical cases
five times.
The operation severely cracked down on illegal acts
such as false propaganda, false advertising, and the manufacture and sale of counterfeit and shoddy products in accordance with the law.
The relevant person in charge of the State Administration for Market Regulation said that only by cleaning up the original source and making the publicity of the health care market worthy of the name can the people's health awareness
be truly enhanced.

In 2020, seven departments including the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Action Plan for the Special Cleanup and Rectification of the Health Food Industry (2020-2021).

Since the implementation of the program, it has effectively purified the health food market and continuously improved the people's sense of gain, happiness and security in the health food consumption market
.

This year, the State Administration for Market Regulation deployed a special action to rectify pension fraud, focusing on the hidden dangers of fraud in the fields of "food" and "health products" related to the elderly, strengthening market supervision, and investigating and punishing illegal business behaviors
such as false propaganda in accordance with the law.
Continue to provide education and guidance, effectively enhance the awareness of the elderly in prevention, and improve their ability
to recognize and prevent deception.
Concentrate efforts on investigating, handling and exposing a number of typical cases, punish a number of illegal enterprises, rectify and regulate the order of the food and health products markets, and promote the special action to crack down on pension fraud to achieve practical results
.

Policies guide the healthy development of the industry

Zhang Yongjian, director of the Food and Drug Industry Development and Supervision Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in recent years, the health food regulatory department has actively explored and deepened the reform of "decentralization, management and service", and issued a series of policies and regulations to promote the transformation of the health food industry from "development and standardization" to "standardized development" through management innovation, system innovation, method innovation and other means, and fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of
consumers.
In the face of new situations, new problems and new challenges, it is necessary to re-examine and study to further deepen the regulatory reform
of the health food industry.

In 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation revised the Regulations on Auxiliary Materials Available for Health Food Recordation Products and Their Use (2021 Edition) and the Dosage Forms and Technical Requirements for Health Food Recordation Products (2021 Edition), incorporating powders and gel candies into the dosage forms of health food filing, enriching the form
of the health food recordation system.
In the same year, the "Catalogue of Nutritional Supplements for Health Food Raw Materials (2020 Edition)" and "Catalogue of Nutrients for Health Functions Allowed to Be Claimed by Health Food (2020 Edition)" were implemented, further improving the record system
for health foods.
At the same time, the "Coenzyme Q10 and other five kinds of health food raw materials catalog" has also been implemented, and five kinds of health foods such as coenzyme Q10 and broken wall Ganoderma lucidum spore powder can be recorded, changing the situation that only vitamins and minerals are allowed to be recorded, marking that the health food filing system has entered a new stage
of development.

In January this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Announcement on the Release of Non-Nutrient Supplements (2022 Edition) and Supporting Documents of the Catalogue of Health Functions Allowed to Be Claimed by Health Food (Draft for Comments)", canceling the three health care functions of promoting lactation, improving growth and development, and improving skin oil that are inconsistent with the positioning of existing health care functions, and the four health care functions
of tumor suppression, auxiliary tumor suppression, anti-mutation, and anti-aging that are no longer accepted for approval 。 In March, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Announcement on Strengthening the Administration of Health Food Labelling (Draft for Comments), supplementing
the contents not covered by the Provisions on Health Food Labelling, which came into effect in July 1996.
In August, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Implementation Rules for the Technical Evaluation of New Functions of Health Food (Trial Implementation) (Draft for Comments)", which stipulates that any or individual may, on the basis of relevant research, submit suggestions on new functions of health food to the food evaluation agency of the State Administration for Market Regulation alone or
jointly.

"The health food industry should build a new development pattern
in which all stakeholders meet each other.
" Zhang Yongjian said that the deepening reform of the health food industry can be implemented
through the path of "improving the top-level design - formulating long-, medium- and short-term plans - coordinated implementation step by step - and advancing steadily".

Wang Hesong said that with the improvement of laws and regulations, the supervision of the health food industry has become more and more standardized, and the industry concentration has been further improved
.
Consumers' understanding of health food is more comprehensive, the consumption concept is more mature, and they are more inclined to choose health food with specialized functions, and the diversified demand for health food has also driven the development
of products in the direction of diversification.