China Regulatory Round-up for Health Food from November 2020 to January 2021

On November 11, 2020, the Department of Food Safety Standards, Risk Surveillance and Assessment under the National Health Commission (NHC) announced that 4 new food additives and 2 new additives used in food-contact articles have passed the safety evaluation, thereby permitting their use in China:

New food additives

• Food colorant extracted from red yeast rice
• Citric acid
• Sucralose
• Sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP)

New additives used in food-contact articles

• Polyethylene
• Acrylic acid-1,3-butadiene-styrene polymer

On January 7, 2021, the NHC announced that 3 new food ingredients, 5 new food additives and 7 new additives used in food-contact articles have passed the safety evaluation and extended its product scope:

New food ingredients

• Cicada flower (Isaria cicadae Miq.)
• Fruiting bodies (artificial cultivation)
• Sodium hyaluronate
• Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens subsp. kefiranofaciens

New food additives

• β-amylase
• Nitrous oxide
• Vitamin K2 (synthetic)
• Dava gum
• Sodium alginate (also known as sodium alginate)

New additives used in food-contact articles

• 1,3,5-tris(2,2-dimethylpropionamide)benzene
• Iron oxide
• Magnesium hydroxide
• Magnesium aluminum hydroxide carbonate (hydrate)
• Polycyclooctene
• 1,3-Benzenedicarboxylic acid polymer with dimethyl 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate,2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediol and 1,2-ethanediol
• 1,4-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,4-dimethyl ester, polymer with decanedioic acid, 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediol and 1,2- ethanediol

By Jacky Li. Contact Cisema if you would like to learn more.