Sweet move? China may allow chocolates, candies, jellies, beverages for health foods filing
The types of candies could include hard candy, milk candy, gelatinized candy, caramel candy, pressed candy, and aerated candy.
The aim is to introduce a greater variety of health foods, especially those in the food formats, into the market, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has announced.
It explained that the move was “to further promote the management of health foods through the filing process, ensure the quality and safety of health food, invigorate the special foods industry, and promote high standards of development.”
Currently, the only food format allowed to go through health foods filing is gummy.
If approved, the regulator will be amending the regulation on “Dosage forms and Technical Requirements of Health Food Filing” and is currently seeking opinion in doing so.
The public consultation ends on November 10.
Health foods in these food formats would be allowed for consumers above four years old, with the daily dosage amount not exceeding 20g per day for candies and chocolates and 100g for jellies.
Caution statements such as “chew thoroughly before consumption” should also be printed on the product label for gelatinized sweets and “please refrain from swallowing at one go” for jellies.
Beverages should not be larger than 500ml per bottle, and total sugar intake should not exceed 25g per day. Products exceeding this amount should state the amount that consumers will be taking in on the product label.
The SAMR is also considering allowing health foods in the form of mixtures, teabags, and paste to be included for filing. These formats could be allowed for making health foods containing ginseng, American ginseng, and Ganoderma lucidum respectively.
As compared to health foods registration, the filing method is a less time-consuming and less expensive way for introducing “low risk” health foods into China’s local market – including offline channels and local e-commerce channels.
Otherwise, health foods or health supplements could also be sold via cross-border e-commerce.
The last time the regulator amended the regulation on dosage formats for health food filing was three years ago in 2021 – were gummies and powder were adding to the list.
If the 2024 additions were approved, a total of 11 dosage formats would be allowed for health foods filing, including the existing list of tablets, hard capsules, soft capsules, oral dissolvable liquid.
At the same time, the SAMR is proposing to amend the “Available Excipients for Health Food Filing and Their Usage Rules” alongside the changes in health foods formats approved for filing.
“Compared with the existing list of dosage formats approved for filing, the proposal this time round intends to enrich the list by adding formats that are more easily favored by the younger crowd, such as candy, chocolates, jellies, and beverages.
“This is to further satisfy the need of consumers of different age groups for health foods,” said Hangzhou-based regulatory consultancy CIRS.
