Health food industry to promote the'dual-track system' in depth

In recent years, China's health food fieldhas been constantly good news, especially the "dual-track" reformimplemented at the policy level, which has become the source of living waterfor the development of the health food market.

The "Health Food Registration andFiling Management Measures" implemented in 2016 allows health foodregistration and filing "dual-track" in parallel. This method adjuststhe original single registration system to a combined management mode of registrationand filing, and implements filing management for health food products using rawmaterials that have been included in the health food raw materials catalog, aswell as health food products that are supplemental vitamins, minerals and othernutrients imported for the first time.

In 2019, the State Administration of MarketSupervision, in conjunction with the National Health and Health Commission,formulated and issued the "Health Food Raw Material Catalogue and HealthCare Function Catalogue Management Measures" to provide institutionalprotection for the "dual-track system" to be implemented. Since then,relevant departments in China have accelerated the operation of the"dual-track system" of health food registration and filing,established an open and diversified management system of health food catalogs,and further strengthened the production and management and social governance bytaking the raw material catalogs and function catalogs as the grip.

Data from the special food informationplatform of the State Administration of Market Regulation shows that as ofAugust 2022, there are 19,474 registered categories of health food, with anaverage of about 600 approved each year. Among them, 274 domestic health foodproducts have been approved for registration in 2021, and 121 domestic healthfood products have been approved for registration this year.

As of February 10, 2021, the number ofhealth food filings in China reached more than 10,000. Among them, 3088 filingvouchers were issued in 2021. As of July 5, 2022, 1,483 filing vouchers havebeen issued this year.

Wang Hesong, secretary-general of theHealth Care Advisory Services Committee of China Health Care Association, saidthat at present, China's health food access system is forming a new regulatorypattern of "registration and approval is the minority, filing is themajority". The epidemic factor makes consumers pay more attention to theirhealth, the scale of online health food sales is growing rapidly, and newmodels such as live broadcast and short video have also promoted the rapiddevelopment of health food industry.

Li Liangqiu, executive vice president ofChina Nutrition and Health Food Association, said that along with the dividendof industry policies, the "dual-track system" of health foodregistration and filing continues to deepen reform, new functions and new rawmaterials are gradually put on the agenda, and the demand for health food showsa trend of diversified growth.

Zhou Shiping, director of the Department ofSpecial Foods of the State Administration of Market Regulation, said that the"dual-track system" of health food registration and filing has beenrunning in an orderly manner, and a more complete regulatory system has beengradually formed, such as the management of raw material directory, the managementof functional claims directory and the management of registration and filing.In the process of reform and promotion, we must continue to meet therequirements of the times, reform and innovate in the regulatory approach,methods and means, and continue to play the role of traditional effectiveregulatory means, while actively exploring the use of credit supervision,intelligent supervision and other means to effectively enhance theeffectiveness of supervision.

Industry insiders believe that from the healthfood registration "single-track system" to the registration andfiling "dual-track system" of change, powerfully enhance theeffectiveness of market access supervision at the same time, but alsoeffectively realize the filing of market entities to facilitate, is the"dual-track system "a major breakthrough in the reform.