Before the approval, ginseng, American ginseng and Lingzhi can be used in health food. Since ginseng belongs to novel food ingredient, it can also be used in general food as per specific notice.

Once the three ingredients are added to the catalogue of health food raw materials, it would be much easier for local enterprises in China to get products containing these ingredients filed with the authority.

As per the official notice issued by SAMR on December 31, 2023, China appends ginseng, American ginseng, and Lingzhi (also known as reishi) into the "Catalogue of Health Food Raw Materials". The notice will come into effect on May 1, 2024.

The notice unveils the usage requirements, specific functional claims that products can bear, and the technical specifications for each ingredient.

The technical requirements specify the raw material source, sensory requirements, identification method, physicochemical indexes, microorganism indexes, active ingredient indicators, storage, allowed dosage forms, and processing techniques.

Source: SAMR and Chemlinked

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