Based in Singapore, Yi Fan is Regulatory Affairs Adviser at EAS Strategies – Asia Pacific. Coming from China, Yi Fan brings to the team valuable regulatory experience that helps clients going into the markets of the Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. She also represents global food industry associations to participate in the discussions at the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Prior to EAS, she had worked in the areas of research and development, quality control and quality assurance in multinational food and nutraceutical companies. Yi Fan holds a degree in Applied Science majoring in Food Science and Technology from the National University of Singapore. She will be speaking on ‘Overview of health food regulations in China’ at Vitafoods Asia, an event dedicated to the nutraceutical, functional food and beverages, and dietary supplement industries in Asia scheduled to be held in Hong Kong from September 2 – 3, 2015. In an email interview she shared her views on Functional Food and Health Supplement Regulations in China.

What are the current market trends for Functional Food and Health Supplement in China?

The Chinese functional food and health supplement market is increasingly become more popular among the Chinese consumers, owing to the following reasons:

• Increasing purchase power by the middle class families
• Higher education and higher levels of health consciousness
• An ageing population coupled with a focus on non-communicable diseases

Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported that the Chinese health food market has an annual growth of 20% in recent years and it is projected that the market will reach RMB 1 trillion in 2015.

Has the Chinese government been supportive to the companies? What kind of help have they offered?

Yes. For example, the government authority organises regular trainings and workshops to the industry and regulators to introduce and discuss the current issues on health food, including the research, technology development, and regulations. Government agencies also facilitate and help the domestic companies to explore product export opportunities in the international market. When new laws and regulations are being developed by the government, industry associations are invited to provide industry perspectives and recommendations in the regulatory development.

What are challenges that the companies in Functional Food and Health Supplement face in China?

The pre-market requirements are often seen as a barrier for health food companies, especially the small and medium ones, to develop health food products for the domestic market.

The pre-market requirement for health foods in China is a lengthy and costly process. Every health food product must go through pre-marketing application process even if there is already similar products in the market using the same functional ingredient(s). The registration takes about two years on average, which requires full evaluation of the product’s safety, stability, and efficacy. It is also required that testing of health food products must be conducted in designated Chinese institutes prior to registration. For imported products, although published overseas clinical and animal studies may be used as supporting documents, local studies and tests at the designated Chinese institutes are still mandatory.

What are the future opportunities in China for the companies in Functional Food and Health Supplement?

Recognising the challenges faced by the industry, the Chinese government is in the process of reforming the regulations for health supplements with the aim to ease the pre-market requirements, while at the same time strengthen the post-market surveillance to ensure product safety and quality.

The new national Food Safety Law 2015 stipulates that health food will undergo a combination of registration and notification systems. With the introduction of notification system, some health products will only need to fulfil certain technical guidelines set by the CFDA prior to product launch. This expectedly will reduce the costs and timings for companies.

What is the current regulatory scenario in China related to Functional Food and Health Supplement?

Following issuance of the new Food Safety Law, the China FDA has recently posted several draft health food regulations for public consultation. The new regulations will set framework for the registration and notification systems for heath foods. More focus will be placed on the ingredient safety, labelling and claims in the future administration of health foods. More comprehensive lists of approved health food ingredients and permitted claims are expected to come out in the next few months, which would give the industry more guidance and freedom on product innovation.

Based in Singapore, Yi Fan is Regulatory Affairs Adviser at EAS Strategies – Asia Pacific. Coming from China, Yi Fan brings to the team valuable regulatory experience that helps clients going into the markets of the Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. She also represents global food industry associations to participate in the discussions at the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Prior to EAS, she had worked in the areas of research and development, quality control and quality assurance in multinational food and nutraceutical companies. Yi Fan holds a degree in Applied Science majoring in Food Science and Technology from the National University of Singapore. She will be speaking on ‘Overview of health food regulations in China’ at Vitafoods Asia, an event dedicated to the nutraceutical, functional food and beverages, and dietary supplement industries in Asia scheduled to be held in Hong Kong from September 2 – 3, 2015. In an email interview she shared her views on Functional Food and Health Supplement Regulations in China.

What are the current market trends for Functional Food and Health Supplement in China?

The Chinese functional food and health supplement market is increasingly become more popular among the Chinese consumers, owing to the following reasons:

• Increasing purchase power by the middle class families
• Higher education and higher levels of health consciousness
• An ageing population coupled with a focus on non-communicable diseases

Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported that the Chinese health food market has an annual growth of 20% in recent years and it is projected that the market will reach RMB 1 trillion in 2015.

Has the Chinese government been supportive to the companies? What kind of help have they offered?

Yes. For example, the government authority organises regular trainings and workshops to the industry and regulators to introduce and discuss the current issues on health food, including the research, technology development, and regulations.

Government agencies also facilitate and help the domestic companies to explore product export opportunities in the international market. When new laws and regulations are being developed by the government, industry associations are invited to provide industry perspectives and recommendations in the regulatory development.

What are challenges that the companies in Functional Food and Health Supplement face in China?

The pre-market requirements are often seen as a barrier for health food companies, especially the small and medium ones, to develop health food products for the domestic market.

The pre-market requirement for health foods in China is a lengthy and costly process. Every health food product must go through pre-marketing application process even if there is already similar products in the market using the same functional ingredient(s). The registration takes about two years on average, which requires full evaluation of the product’s safety, stability, and efficacy. It is also required that testing of health food products must be conducted in designated Chinese institutes prior to registration. For imported products, although published overseas clinical and animal studies may be used as supporting documents, local studies and tests at the designated Chinese institutes are still mandatory.

What are the future opportunities in China for the companies in Functional Food and Health Supplement?

Recognising the challenges faced by the industry, the Chinese government is in the process of reforming the regulations for health supplements with the aim to ease the pre-market requirements, while at the same time strengthen the post-market surveillance to ensure product safety and quality.

The new national Food Safety Law 2015 stipulates that health food will undergo a combination of registration and notification systems. With the introduction of notification system, some health products will only need to fulfil certain technical guidelines set by the CFDA prior to product launch. This expectedly will reduce the costs and timings for companies.

What is the current regulatory scenario in China related to Functional Food and Health Supplement?

Following issuance of the new Food Safety Law, the China FDA has recently posted several draft health food regulations for public consultation. The new regulations will set framework for the registration and notification systems for heath foods. More focus will be placed on the ingredient safety, labelling and claims in the future administration of health foods. More comprehensive lists of approved health food ingredients and permitted claims are expected to come out in the next few months, which would give the industry more guidance and freedom on product innovation.