Experts on 21 Health Food Functions to be Cancelled

Recently, the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration issued the Notice of the General Administration of Market Supervision on Soliciting Opinions on adjusting the health function of health food (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which intends to cancel 21 health food functions and guide consumers to rational consumption. In this context, although some people in the industry described the current health food industry as a "mournful voice", but experts said that in fact, enterprises need not be too anxious. Before the announcement, 27 health food functions were approved by the state.

The announcement shows that 18 of these functions are to be adjusted. The three items of "cosmetology", "promoting growth and development/improving growth and development" and "promoting lactation" are to be abolished. The six functions of "assistant hypolipidemic", "assistant hypoglycemic", "assistant hypotensive", "assistant protective function for chemical liver injury", "assistant protective function for radiation hazards" and "promoting lead excretion" need to be demonstrated.

In addition, it has been approved before, but no longer accepted the examination and approval of health care functions, including assistant suppression of tumors, improvement of sexual function, etc. Eighteen items are to be cancelled. Zhou Shiping, Director of the Special Food Safety Supervision and Administration Department of the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration, said that at present, problems such as false propaganda in the health food market and even bragging about products as magic drugs to cheat consumers have been repeatedly prohibited. Fraud and false propaganda are a persistent social disease, involving a wide range of factors, complex, difficult to obtain evidence, difficult to identify, and need comprehensive management by all sectors of society.

Zhang Yong, president of Guangdong Institute of Modern Health Industry and secretary-general of Guangdong Association of Nutrition and Health Industries, told the media that this adjustment led to fewer best-selling health products on the market, and the living space of health food production enterprises, circulation enterprises and practitioners was further reduced. Now the whole health food industry can be described as a "mournful voice".

An expert from the Chinese Nutrition Society who did not want to be named told the China Business Journal that in his opinion, the 18 functions to be adjusted claimed to have little impact on the regulated enterprises.

He said that the announcement protected the interests of most enterprises. According to the announcement, the holder of the registration certificate of health food products or authorized manufacturer can directly adjust the expression of the related functions in the package, label and instructions of their products for the 18 health functions stated in the first batch of functional claims to be adjusted, and the listed products can be sold until the expiration of the shelf life without applying for a separate registration change; in the process of accepting examination and approval, the reviewing body will The direct adjustment function claims that the applicant does not need to make corrections. That is to say, most enterprises do not need to submit the application formalities again.

And the three existing health function products involved in the proposed cancellation accounted for a small proportion in the market. Reporters learned that, taking "improving skin oil" as an example, from the number of approved products, so far only one of the functional products has been approved, that is, "30 days beautiful secret tablets". The applicant is Hainan Beautiful Health Food Co., Ltd. Beijing Medison Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. has the largest number of approved "lactation improvement" functional products. So the impact on the whole market is limited. According to media reports, these three functions only have more than 300 products in total, accounting for less than 2% of health food. Experts from the Chinese Society of Nutrition also said that the regulatory authorities adjusted the functions of health food in order to rectify false propaganda and protect the safety of consumers'lives and property, rather than "banning" health food enterprises. So legitimate businesses need not be too anxious.

In addition, he believes that relevant enterprises can actively feedback to the regulatory authorities, so that the regulatory authorities can better understand the current situation of the development of the industry, so that the regulatory authorities can better protect consumers'rights and interests, and protect the rights and interests of legitimate enterprises. He hopes that with the supervision of relevant departments and the efforts of enterprises, the industry can develop healthily.

A health food distributor admitted that the adjustment of health food function caused great shock in the industry. Some products have been produced, but now they can not be sold, which is a big loss for some enterprises. "In fact, before the announcement is issued, enterprises should expect that the regulatory authorities will tighten the supervision of the market. Some enterprises produce inappropriate product names and carry out false propaganda when selling, resulting in human lives, which will affect the development of the industry as a whole. He said. Therefore, he believes that the provisions of the announcement will make some adjustments in the short run, but in the long run, it will be conducive to the sustainable development of the industry and alleviate the current serious trust crisis between consumers and enterprises. Journalists from

Many consumers believe that the publication of the announcement is of positive significance. "Now the health food market is too chaotic, there are many people deceived, the publication of the announcement for false propaganda phenomenon is certainly inhibited." One consumer said, "I hope the relevant departments will actively manage the illegal acts in this industry, in addition to false phenomena, there are also some similar pyramid sales methods to be rectified." Another consumer expressed the hope that the relevant departments could rectify the phenomenon of false propaganda on the Internet. "For example, everybody browses the Wechat Friendship Circle every day, and some of the information released by microbusinessmen belongs to false information, which is propaganda for illegal products. I think these microbusinessmen should be punished."