China approves American ginseng, ginseng, ganoderma for health foods filing

The State Administration for Market Regulation made the announcement​ on December 31 last year. With the approval, they are added to Health Food Raw Material Directory. Raw materials in the directory could be made into health foods that come with health claims pre-specified by the authorities. In this case, both ginseng and American ginseng products could claim to either “aid the strengthening of immunity” ​or “alleviating physical fatigue” ​or make both claims concurrently. Products containing ganoderma could only claim the former. The permitted daily dosage for ginseng is between one to three grams, 1.5 to three grams for American ginseng, and four to six grams for ganoderma. Based on the announcement, the three ingredients could only be used to make single raw material formulation and could not be formulated with other raw materials. Companies should also specify the breed of the raw materials used when submitting a health food filing. In this case, companies should ensure that ...