On February 8th, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) drafted the "Technical Requirements for Filing Health Food Ingredients Ginseng, American Ginseng, and Reishi (Draft for Comments)" and is now soliciting public opinions.
On February 26th, 2024, the National Technical Committee on Special Dietary Foods of the Standardization Administration of China (SAC/TC466) released 12 draft national standards for testing methods of health food for public comments. See previous report.
On February 26th, the General Administration of Customs of China revoked the registration of the United States-based beverage production company JERRY&SONS PHARMACEUTICAL INC (registration number in China: CUSA24092203180057). The revocation was due to the company providing false materials during the registration process. Additionally, no customs declaration records were found for products from this company. See previous report.
On February 27, 2024, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Key Points for Special Food Safety Supervision in 2024" (referred to as the "Key Points" below). The Key Points emphasized that in 2024, regulatory efforts will be focused on the inclusion of liquid infant formula in the registration management process through relevant legislative amendments. Detailed guidelines for the evaluation of production permits for such products will be formulated. Furthermore, continuous improvements will be made to the list of raw materials for health food, and research will be conducted to establish a directory of permissible health claims for health food. To encourage the development of new functionalities for health food, the "Key Points for Review of Health Food Renewal Certification without Product Technical Requirements and Expiry Date" will be issued. Additionally, there will be continued promotion of the streamlined process for domestic health food filings across provinces. Efforts will also be made to revise the relevant regulations governing clinical trials of special medical purpose formula foods.
On February 15th, 2024, the Macau Special Administrative Region promulgated the "Standards for the Use of Food Additives in Food," which outlines approved food additives, permitted food categories for their use, and maximum usage levels for specific food categories. These standards will become effective on May 1, 2024.
On February 23rd, 2024, the Taiwan region amended the "Evaluation Method for the Health Benefit of Promoting Iron Bioavailability in Health Food" and renamed it as the "Evaluation Method for the Health Benefit of Assisting in Regulating Blood Iron in Health Food." This amendment took immediate effect.
On February 1st, 2024, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry (DAFF) in Australia introduced import changes for fish oil. The key revisions include the implementation of new standard licenses for all imported fish oil intended for human consumption, human therapeutic use, or human cosmetic use. These changes came into effect on the same day.
On February 21st, 2024, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in New Zealand revised the Joint Food Standards, which came into effect on February 7, 2024. The main provisions are as follows:
(1) Four substances are allowed as nutrients in infant formula products: a mixture of 2'-fucosyllactose (2'-FL) and difucosyllactose (DFL) (2'FL/DFL), lacto-N-tetraose (LNT), 6'-sialyllactose (6'-SL) sodium salt, and 3'-sialyllactose (3'-SL) sodium salt.
(2) The claim "no added sugar" is not permitted in the following cases: when it meets the definition of "added sugars," or when solid food contains more than 10.0g/100g of monosaccharides and disaccharides, or liquid food contains more than 7.5g/100ml.
On February 23rd, 2024, New Zealand officially released the "Allergen Declarations, Warning, and Advisory Statements on Food Labels," which came into effect on February 25, 2024. The statement requires food businesses to update their labels and provide training to their staff to ensure that the information they provide to customers complies with the new regulations. Any packaged food with labels before February 25, 2024, can be resold for up to two years.
On February 6th, 2024, Japan issued Notification No. 29, announcing updates to certain provisions in the specifications and standards for food additives in Japan. The updates include changes to requirements for food additive testing experiments, additive ingredient specifications, storage requirements, production, and usage requirements. To assist businesses in adapting to the new regulations, a one-year transition period was provided.
On January 12, 2024, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) in South Korea amended certain provisions of the Enforcement Rules of the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods. The main changes include specifying the size and placement of food product names, nutritional components, sodium content, and other items on food labels to ensure easy and clear identification for consumers, and to ensure that no overlapping or obstruction of text by images occurs to maintain readability.
