China officially carried out the Administrative Measures for the Safety Review of New Food Raw Materials on October 1, 2013, which defined the new food raw materials as those not traditionally consumed in China: animals, plants and microorganisms; the materials that are separated from animals, plants and microorganisms; the food materials whose original structure has been changed; and other newly developed food raw materials.
The categories of new food raw materials approved and published 2008-June 2017
Product category | Quantity | Of the total approved（%） | |
Animals, plants and microorganisms | plant | 26 | 22.2 |
17 | 14.5 | ||
fungus and algae | 9 | 7.7 | |
The materials that are separated from animals, plants and microorganisms | lipid | 31 | 26.5 |
carbohydrate | 17 | 14.5 | |
amino acid, peptide and proteins | 9 | 7.7 | |
others | 4 | 3.4 | |
The food materials whose original structure are changed and other newly developed food raw materials | 4 | 3.4 | |
Total | 117 | 100 | |
According to Herbridge, most of the new food raw materials approved by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China since 2008 are the materials separated from animals, plants and microorganisms (61 in total), accounting for 52.1% of the total; the second place goes to the animals, plants and microorganisms (52 in total), accounting for 44.5%. Some of the new food raw materials approved in this category are also TCM materials. The Herbridge statistics are summarized as follows:
1) Ginseng
Ginseng belongs to traditional Chinese herbal medicines and has a history of application in the country for thousands of years. It has also been widely used in the fields of medicine and food with the identity of "medicinal and edible plant." According to the definition of new food raw materials (new food raw materials not traditionally consumed in China), ginseng is not qualified to apply as new food raw material. In 2002, ginseng was included in the List of Items That Can Be Used for Health Food, which provides that listed raw materials are only for the production of health food, which again limited the application of ginseng. The 32nd Session of Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) reviewed and adopted the international standard “Ginseng Food” in 2009, which stipulated that cultivated ginseng may be used for food. Seeing the international recognition of ginseng’s identity as food, China, as a leading global producer of ginseng, must keep up with the times. In August 2012, cultivated ginseng was approved as a new food raw material.
Announcement No.17 of 2012: New food raw material ginseng
Chinese name | Ginseng (cultivated) |
Latin name | Panax Ginseng C.A.Meyer |
Basic information | source：Cultivated ginseng grown for five years or less Species: Araliaceae, Panax edible parts: roots and rhizomes |
Intake amount | ≤3g/day |
Other items in need of clarification | 1. Health and safety criterions should be in line with the relevant national standards. 2. Unsuitable for pregnant women, nursing women and children under 14. Unsuitable groups and intake limit should be labeled and noted in the instructions. |
Ginseng tissue adventitious roots and mountain tissue adventitious roots later applied for new food raw materials, of which the examinations were terminated by NHFPC due to their substantial equivalence to ginseng (cultivated ginseng), which was approved as new food raw material in 2012. The former can be produced and managed as the food raw materials.
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