NHC Released Four Chinese Standards of Clinical Application Specification for FSMP and Specific Nutritionally Complete Foods (for cancer, diabetes and IBD)

The National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China has released four draft proposals related to the foods for special medical purposes (FSMP) on September 7, 2018, including Clinical Application Specification for Foods for Special Medical Purposes and 3 Food Safety National Standards (GB) for 3 kinds of specific nutritionally complete foods (for cancer, diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)). All four standards are issued in China for the first time, and the deadline for opinions and advices is October 30, 2018.

The Clinical Application Specification stipulates the basic application requirements and formulation methods of FSMP in medical institutions, which is used to guide doctors and nutritionists in the application of FSMP.

Currently, GB 29922-2013 General Rules of FSMP and its FAQs have been implemented for specific nutritionally complete foods. In comparison, the 3 GBs for specific nutritionally complete foods (for cancer, diabetes and IBD) provide more detailed and precise rules and explanations aiming at the patients under different medical conditions.

Overall, the 3 GBs specify the scope, explain relevant terms and definitions, include more complete technical requirements and regulations on other aspects such as product labels. While the age groups of the applicable population are different:

• Specific Nutritionally Complete Foods for Cancer: for the patients with nutritional risks or malnutrition;
• Specific Nutritionally Complete Foods for Diabetes: for the patients over 10 years old;
• Specific Nutritionally Complete Foods for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: for the patients over 10 years old;

Compared with GB 29922-2013 and its FAQs, however, the major differences between them are the indexes for nutrients. Detailed information is listed below.

Table 1. Comparison of nutritional index requirements between Drafted Specific Nutritionally Complete Foods for Cancer and GB 29922-2013 and its FAQs

Table 2. Comparison of nutritional index requirements between Drafted Specific Nutritionally Complete Foods for Diabetes and GB 29922-2013 and its FAQs

Table 3. Comparison of nutritional index requirements between Drafted Specific Nutritionally Complete Foods for IBD and GB 29922-2013 and its FAQs

Reference

http://www.nhfpc.gov.cn/sps/s3593/201809/4f48037eba474f419b30e7f3368d0f46.shtml