From the product interface, there is currently a large category of products on the market that are neither health products nor ordinary foods. The legal positioning of such products is not clear, so supervision is in a vacuum. There is currently no clear answer as to whether it should be encouraged or controlled.

Recently, the "Golden Rice" human experiment incident caused an uproar. Li Lianda, an 88-year-old traditional Chinese medicine pharmacology expert and academician of the Academy of Engineering, said in an interview about the "Golden Rice" incident, "The 'Golden Rice' in the experiment is not a drug. , is not an ordinary food, it should fall into the category of health food and can be classified as 'fortified food'..." Academician Li's statement attracted a lot of criticism. Here, let’s put aside the discussion of whether “golden rice” is a health food. The first thing we need to think deeply about is the public’s and even professionals’ understanding of the definition of “health food”.

Traditional Chinese medicine pharmacology experts and academicians of the Academy of Engineering refer to genetically modified rice as health food. The public’s understanding of health food is even more diverse. It is not difficult to search with the four words "health food" on Weibo. Discover these ideas: Brown sugar has always been a favorite health food for the public. Brown sugar has the effects of dispelling cold, warming the stomach, strengthening the spleen, and relieving pain. It is also rich in calcium, iron and other essential minerals and trace elements for the human body; At night, I eat celery, lily, ginkgo and other ingredients...all are health foods that are beneficial to women; the six most awesome health foods are green tea; red wine second; soy milk third; yogurt fourth; bone soup fifth; Six Mushroom Soup; Traditional Chinese medicine believes that raw lotus root can cool the blood and disperse blood stasis, while cooked lotus root can nourish the kidneys and heart, nourish yin and blood. It can replenish the deficiency of the five internal organs, strengthen the body, nourish blood, and nourish the blood. It is an excellent health food in autumn; Donkeys are herbivorous animals, and donkey meat is tender and delicious. It is a high-protein, low-fat health food...

Perhaps health food rule makers or industry experts will disapprove of this and joke that they don't understand health food. . However, according to the provisions of the "Health Food Registration Management Measures (Trial)" (Bureau Order No. 19 promulgated on April 30, 2005) that are still followed, health food refers to products that claim to have specific health functions or that supplement vitamins and minerals. food for the purpose. That is, food that is suitable for consumption by specific groups of people, has the ability to regulate body functions, is not intended to treat diseases, and does not cause any acute, subacute or chronic harm to the human body. The "Health Food Registration Management Measures (Trial)" was promulgated "to standardize the registration behavior of health food, ensure the quality of health food, and ensure the safety of human consumption." It does not stipulate that registered health food is health food, and unregistered food is not health food. Food, based on this we cannot easily conclude that Academician Li is wrong and the public is wrong. But as we all know, the "Health Food Supervision and Administration Regulations" are in the process of being drafted, and one of the main focuses of debate is what is a health food. If the definition of health food in the "Health Food Supervision and Administration Regulations" does not pay attention to the public's view of "health food" The general perception can only be described as an "ostrich mentality", which will set up obstacles for future legal dissemination and is not conducive to industry standardization.

The health food industry also faces four major problems: illegal additions, illegal claims, illegal marketing and underground dens. These four stubborn problems are common in the supervision process of various provinces and cities.