What happened to the betel nut industry, which was asked to be removed from the shelves by many places, with an output value of 100 billion?

"Please consciously remove the majority of business households from the shelves, our bureau will be in accordance with the relevant laws and policy requirements, in the near future to carry out special clean-up operations, the relevant illegal acts will be resolutely investigated and punished

Recently, market supervision departments in many places across the country have issued similar notices, requiring merchants to remove betel nuts and betel nut products

Previously, 36-year-old singer Fu Song unfortunately died of oral cancer, and he said on social platforms that his oral cancer was caused by betel nut, calling on everyone to "cherish life and stay away from betel nut"

Many places have asked for betel nuts to be removed

The regulations were first promulgated in 1996

As early as September 1996, the Xiamen Municipal People's Government promulgated the Regulations of Xiamen City on Prohibiting the Production, Sale and Consumption of Betel Nuts

In May this year, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Xishui County, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, released an article on betel nut carcinogenicity on the public account of "Xishui Market Regulation", and said: "Please consciously remove the majority of business households from the shelves, our bureau will carry out special clean-up actions in the near future in accordance with relevant laws and policy requirements, and resolutely investigate and deal with

From September 7 to 9, the Food Supervision Unit of the Market Supervision Bureau of Huidong County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, the Comprehensive Law Enforcement Brigade, and various market supervision offices also carried out special rectification of betel nut and betel nut products, requiring merchants to remove betel nut and betel nut products

On September 13, Jianxing Town, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, issued a notice saying that according to the Notice of the General Office of the State Administration for Market Supervision on Matters Related to the Supervision of Betel Nut Products (Municipal Food Supervision Letter [2021] No.

On September 16, the WeChat public account of the Market Supervision Bureau of Xinjin District of Chengdu mentioned that in order to further strengthen the supervision of the sales of betel nut products, Huaqiao recently launched a special inventory of

On September 19, the WeChat public account of the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Yingshan County, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, announced that all operators are not allowed to sell betel nut and betel nut products marked by food packaging and labeling; For the sale of betel nut and betel nut products in food business premises, immediately contact the food business to remove them from the shelves, and if there is any illegal act, it will be investigated and dealt

On September 15, a merchant in Yiwu received a notice requiring all betel nuts to be removed from the shelves and permanently banned from being sold as food, otherwise they would face penalties

Betel nut has been listed as a primary carcinogen in 2017

Betel nut contains betel nut alkali, ephedrine and other substances, eating can make people excited, long-term consumption is easy to produce dependence, with a certain degree of

The betel nut industry has been controversial

From the perspective of food safety, nutrition and health, and reducing disease risk factors, Wang Silu, a national first-level health manager and a national senior food inspector, supports this latest "ban" provision

Wang Silu said that long-term consumption of betel nut is not only easy to lead to oral cancer, but also increases the risk

Betel nut expanded by "harmless" advertising

Red Star Capital Bureau noted that before the betel nut enterprises in the brand promotion not only has never put "harmful health" on the outer packaging, but also some enterprises in the advertisement that they can "health"

Red Star Capital Bureau checked the information and found that the earliest available betel nut advertisement appeared in 1997, and the lucky series of entertainment programs of Hunan Jingshi broadcast the advertisement

It can be seen that the early advertising of betel nut was promoted by local media
.

Red Star Capital Bureau noted that the Xiangtan Municipal People's Government published an article on its official website in 2017 that the output of betel nuts in Xiangtan City accounted for more than 80% of the province's total production, with annual sales revenue of more than 8 billion yuan, taxes of more than 100 million yuan, and nearly 150,000 people engaged in betel nut-related work
.

From 2017 to 2019, the betel nut brand "Taste King" has been on the Hunan Satellite TV Spring Festival Gala for 3 consecutive years, such as Jia Ling's "Blind date is like chewing betel nut, you have to chew one by one to know which is the most suitable for your taste king", and then to Wang Han's "Hunan people eat the taste king for the New Year"
.

Judging from the advertising words, the publicity focus of this stage is mostly on
"taste".

By March 2019, the Hunan Betel Nut Food Industry Association issued a notice requiring all betel nut manufacturers in Hunan to stop all domestic advertising with immediate effect, and this work must be completed
by March 15 of that year.

However, this paper ban by the Hunan Provincial Industry Association has failed to completely restrain betel nut enterprises
.
Since then, betel nut advertising has chosen to go out of the local media, and the publicity focus of betel nut has also changed, from "taste" to functional "health", "refreshing" and
"health".

In 2020, the betel nut brand "Xiangtan Puzi" sponsored the variety show "Deyun Dou Laughing Society", and the advertising slogan was "It is better to have goji berries, and it is more enjoyable to listen to crosstalk"
.

According to the Tianyancha APP, the main operating company behind this brand is Hunan Wuziduni Industrial Group Co.
, Ltd.
(hereinafter referred to as "Wuziduni Industry"), and its registered address is Xiangtan City
, Hunan Province.
That is to say, it is still advertising
after the above ban was issued.

A practitioner in the advertising industry told Red Star Capital that a few years ago, the public had gradually recognized the harm of betel nut, and betel nut enterprises used the main "health" and "health" marketing ideas to hedge is targeted
.

Not only "Xiangtan Shop", Red Star Capital Bureau found that the brand "Q Dao Food" has launched a dendrobium betel nut, which claims to integrate traditional Chinese medicine dendrobium into betel nut, so that consumers can enjoy the taste of betel nut while also playing a role
in ensuring physical health.

In the long-term "harmless" advertising campaign, the market for betel nut continues to expand
.
Until September 17, 2021, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued a notice saying that from now on, it will stop using radio and television and online audio-visual programs to promote betel nuts and their products
.

The game between the 100-billion-level betel nut industry and public health

The output value of China's betel nut industry has reached nearly 100 billion
.
According to the China Market Supervision News, from 2011 to 2018, the output value of China's betel nut industry rose from 55.
8 billion yuan to 78.
1 billion yuan, and it continued to rise
.
With the tightening of supervision, where is the betel nut industry expected to go with a scale of 100 billion?

Whether the advertisement is stopped, or the "ban", behind it is still the game
between the 100 billion betel nut industry and public health.

Despite the continuous voice of various medical institutions and industry associations, China's betel nut industry is still expanding
rapidly.
According to the China Food News, the data shows that there are more than 14,000 betel nut-related enterprises in China, mainly distributed in Hunan, Hainan and Fujian
.
Since last year, the number of betel nut enterprises in the country has jumped sharply, with more than 2800 registered enterprises, an increase of 89% over 2019, and this year's growth trend is still hot, so far more than 2600 betel nut enterprises have been registered nationwide
.

Some netizens said that the planting, processing and sales behind the betel nut industry have formed an industrial chain, and if the "ban" is made, the interests of employees and dealers should be fully considered, and cannot be one-size-fits-all
.

An industry insider in the western region said that the planting and processing of betel nut is mainly in southern provinces such as Hainan and Hunan, and other provinces are mostly betel nut consumption areas
.
If the "ban", in fact, the economic impact on the consumption area will not be too large, may have some impact on
wholesalers, merchants.

The reporter contacted a betel nut brand processing and sales enterprise in Hunan Province, and its national investment hotline customer service said that it had not received the notice of "ban on sales", and the current national investment channels were smooth
.

In the face of the ban once again "increased", where will the betel nut industry go in the future? "On the one hand, there are real local and corporate interests, and on the other hand, public health and hygiene, and it is difficult for all stakeholders to give up
in the short term.
" Ruan Quang Feng believes that the evidence of betel nut carcinogenesis is conclusive, and in the long run, it will cause endless disasters
to the health and property of consumers.
"The betel nut industry does have a certain role in promoting the local economy and employment in the short term, but the medical costs caused by diseases such as oral cancer will actually exceed these economic benefits
.
"

Studies predict that according to the current trend, by 2030, betel nut-related oral cancer cases may accumulate more than 300,000 cases in Hunan and conservatively estimates in the country may exceed 1 million
.
The medical burden caused by betel nut-related oral cancer across the country, conservatively estimated at a medical cost of 200,000 yuan per case, may exceed 200 billion yuan, which is enough to offset its economic contribution to
society.

According to the China Food News, "the betel nut industry in the country will reach at least 100 billion yuan of market capacity
in the future.
" In 2021, food industry expert Zhu Danpeng said in an interview with the media that betel nut belongs to a high-profit industry, and the addictive characteristics of chewing betel nut products have attracted a stable consumer base
.
Taking Hunan, a large consumer province, as an example, the proportion of people who chew betel nuts is close to 50%.

This is not only related to the living habits of people in many regions, but also closely related
to regional economic development.

In fact, many people in the industry believe that there is a need for a clearer standard for the betel nut industry to guide relevant companies on how to do it
.
"The regulatory system of the betel nut industry is still imperfect, and reasonable guidance
is needed for the development of the betel nut industry.
" Zhu Danpeng said that he hopes that with the efforts of many parties and legislative means, the relationship between industry development and public health will be balanced, and the supervision of betel nut will be pushed to a reasonable and compliant direction
.

No longer a "food"

What exactly is "betel nut products"?

As a first-class carcinogen, betel nut's "food" status has been controversial
for many years.
In Hunan and other places, the betel nut industry has reached a scale of nearly 100 billion, and betel nut products have been relatively popular as "specialty foods", and there are great health risks
.
Although the use of radio and television and online audio-visual programmes to promote betel nut and its products has been banned, the sale of betel nut products has hardly been affected
.

Most of the main betel nut products sold on the market are produced by Hunan enterprises, and from 2021, the Hunan Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau will no longer handle the food production license and extension of all betel nut enterprises in the
province.
In other words, if there is no food production license, or if the food production license has expired, then betel nuts produced after that time no longer have food properties
.

In fact, as early as two years ago, the latest revision of the "Classification Catalogue of Food Production Licenses" by the State Administration for Market Regulation had abolished the category of "edible betel nut", and betel nut was no longer managed as a food, nor could it be issued a Food Production License
.
Betel nut is licensed and regulated as a food product, and there has been no basis for this
.

Accordingly, the relevant local departments require that betel nut products not be sold as food, which is a normal law enforcement act and has a basis
in law.
All places, including Hunan, should follow suit
.
How should the "identity" of betel nut, which is not a food, be defined? Where should the relevant production enterprises go?

According to reports, in order to solve the problem of unfounded supervision, the Hunan Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau has submitted a proposal to the provincial government to promote the safety assessment of betel nut by the Provincial Health Commission, and report to the National Health Commission to study the betel nut in the "medicinal and food homology" catalog
.
The relevant departments in Hunan are also striving to pass local legislation to determine the positioning
of betel nut as a "local characteristic product".
After the news was released, it was quickly questioned
by "asking for money and not dying".

It is worth asking that after kicking out the food catalog, "betel nut is sold as 'betel nut products', and must not be sold according to food", so how should "betel nut products" be characterized? What exactly is the "identity" of "sub-regional sale"? Relevant departments need to give clear statements as soon as possible in order to stabilize the expectations of relevant enterprises and guide rational consumption behavior
.

Chengdu Business Daily - Red Star News special commentator Shu Shengxiang

Chengdu Business Daily - Red Star News Reporter Yu Yao, Zhang Luxi, Yang Peiwen Comprehensive Jimu News