From new resources to new food

In China, the development of new food resources started earlier. With the iteration of laws and regulations and the approval system, a batch of foods that were not used in daily consumption entered the market in the form of finished products in the 1980s and 1990s, such as propolis liquid, spirulina powder etc. The 1983 "Food Sanitation ACT" (Trial) stipulated that "food produced from new resources must be approved by the former Ministry of Health", which established the basic management system of new resource food in China. Subsequently, in 1987, the former Ministry of Health issued the "New Food Sanitation ACT", and began to implement strict approval for new food resources. During the 35 years from 1987 to 2022, new food resources (new resource foods) have undergone a change in approval objects from finished products to specific ingredients, a name change from "new resource foods" to "new food raw material", and a change from approval Changes from certificate to approval form publicized to the public.

Nowadays, the new food raw materials we often say are transitioned from the original "new resource food" in response to the needs of the "Food Safety ACT". The "New Resource Food Sanitation ACT" issued by the former Ministry of Health emphasizes the "three new" characteristics of new resource foods, that is, "newly discovered, newly developed, and newly introduced" foods that are non-toxic and harmless to the human body, in order to distinguish them from The difference between ordinary food. According to the "New Food Raw Material Safety ACT", new food raw materials refer to the following items that have no traditional eating habits in China: 1. Animals, plants and microorganisms; 2. Ingredients isolated from animals, plants and microorganisms; 3. Food ingredients whose original structure has changed; 4. Other newly developed food raw materials (excluding GMO food, health food, and new food additives). "Traditional eating habits" as opposed to "no traditional eating habits" refer to food eating habits that have more than 30 years of food production, operation and consumption history in a specific area and that are not included in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China.

The approval and announcement of new food raw materials has important guiding significance for the food industry. When the relevant new food raw materials pass the safety review, it indicates the legalization of its application in China, which can further predict the upsurge of the application of related finished products.