November 20, 2013
China's health commission to evaluate safety of new food raw materials
China's National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) published Notice 23, requiring pre-market registration of new food raw materials in the form of "safety evaluation opinions" issued by qualified testing institutes.
The basic procedures of safety evaluation include hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, risk characterisation. NHFPC update the regulatory framework for novel foods in China in 2013. In July, a major legislative milestone for this food sector was passed with the issuance of the measures on the new food raw materials which replaced and improved on many aspects found in its predecessor. Under the new management system for novel foods, the scope and registration requirements are clearer. More stringent requirements regarding the level of technical information needed to substantiate safety is a major improvement in this new regulation.
The "safety evaluation opinions" mentioned above is a new part of the safety evaluation report and must be issued by certain accredited testing institutes. At present, only China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA) is qualified. Imported new food raw materials should have toxicological, microbial drug resistance and toxin-producing ability testing reports from overseas GLP-certified labs.
Within 60 days, applicants need to submit dossiers to the National Centre for Health Inspection and Supervision (NCHIS) under NHFPC which will organise an expert panel to conduct a technical review.
According to an official from CFSA, it is almost impossible for imported new food raw materials that have no history of use in foreign countries to be approved and it is very difficult for those that need lots of toxicological data to be registered. In addition, those claiming to have many biological functions are not recommended for registration.
NHFPC is organising experts to make a list of new food raw materials that have already been approved to facilitate food companies in determining whether a food raw material is new or existing in China.
