20 November, 2019. Following a full day of regulatory discussions and China-Australia centered market talks, ChemLinked ended its 2^nd Food Regulatory Conference in Sydney. The day event was hosted by ChemLinked, with the support of Complementary Medicines Australia (CMA), Australia Grape & Wine and the Infant Nutrition Council of Australia and New Zealand.

The conference focused on two topics that currently dominate trade exchanges: marketing strategies and regulations. Specifically, the conference offered insights on China’s e-commerce CBEC and changes, the Chinese food regulatory system, the market’s growing demand for “health food” and special food products and the region’s still prominence in the import of infant formula, among other topics.

China is the largest export destination for Australian and New Zealand dairy products and health food, a context which has brought along overseas enterprises support for its continuous opening up of the market, and confusion as how to adjust to frequent policy overturns.

Yuanzhao Yu, Food Regulatory Specialist from REACH24H, shared the infant powder product formula registration management regulations (draft) “and the revised infant formula powder GB standard (GB10765 GB10766 GB10767) content.

In 2019, the health food industry became one of the focal points of the Chinese government due to the increasing level of consumer interest and health claims. It has since cracked down on illegal and false publicity activities through several initiatives, reinforced supervision duties, and issued dozens of health food related announcements .

In recent years, complaints about food labelling and advertising report have repeatedly emerged. Enterprises have consequently had to turn to labeling and advertising measures to keep up to date with the latest government restrictions due to the increasing number of complaints and cases reported by the supervision authorities. Food labeling standards have increasingly become the “highlight” of quality department’s audits.  On this topic, Ms. Jin Yini, a Regulatory Technical Engineer at REACH24H, made a systematic introduction to the food labeling system and advertising supervision requirements, and used cases to guide enterprises on how to design compliant labels.

During the roundtable discussion, Carl Gibson, Chief Executive Officer at Complementary Medicines Australia ; Jan Carey, CEO of the Infant Nutrition Council of Australia and New Zealand; Tony Battaglene, Chief Executive of the Australian Grape & Wine; UMS Business Development Manager Jo Ruo, and Dr. Mathew McDougall, CEO Mathew, CEO of Reach China Holdings Ltd., Special Guests Speakers at the conference, shared their own work experiences in depth and explored new solutions with the attendees.

After the Q&A followed a networking session, where guest attendees and all speakers were able to directly communicate their specific concerns and share some specific experiences, giving the event a successful closing on its second food regulatory experience in Oceania.