New labeling regulations for health food： ＂No treatment＂, shelf life and other contents should be eye-catching.
Changsha Evening News reported on August 20th (all-media reporter Zhou Huixia) On August 20th, the State Administration of Market Supervision issued the "Guidelines for Warning Terms on Health Food Labeling" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), which made the warning terms on health food more clear and strict. Including the label that a warning area must be set up, and the area should not be less than 20% of its layout, the shelf life should be described in the way of "the shelf life will last until a certain day of a certain year", and there is obvious color difference between the text in the warning language area and the background of the warning language area, etc., and the warning language should include "health food is not a drug and cannot replace drugs to treat diseases" and so on, in order to make consumers, especially elderly consumers, easily identify and understand consumption. It is reported that the "Guide" will be implemented on January 1 next year.
False propaganda and marketing routines of health food infringe on consumers’ rights and interests.
In China, foods that have certain health functions and are suitable for specific people are regarded as health foods, and strict management is carried out according to special food management methods. In the supervision of health food, the market supervision department focuses on the strict examination and approval of product production before listing. After listing, it is required to indicate suitable people and unsuitable people on product labels and instructions, stating that "this product cannot replace drugs".
With the enhancement of consumers’ awareness of health care, the demand for health food has increased greatly. The market supervision department found that some violations of consumers’ rights and interests occurred in the development of health food market.
False propaganda makes consumers unconsciously equate health food with medicine, which is the strongest phenomenon that consumers reflect on health food marketing. When the reporter followed the inspection of the law enforcement personnel of the market supervision department, he found that some merchants boasted that the mattress worth 20,000 yuan was a magic mattress that could cure all diseases, and told the old people who came to experience it: sleeping on such a mattress, the head is not dizzy, the eyes are not flowery, and the legs are not painful. Law enforcement officers found that the purchase price of such a mattress is only one tenth of the selling price, and the hot spot on the mattress is actually infrared.
Some health foods are falsely publicized and exaggerated, and are blown into "magic medicine"; Some illegal enterprises, especially those that produce and sell nourishing and aphrodisiac health foods, illegally add sildenafil and other ingredients to harm consumers in order to enhance the efficacy of products.
"My grandmother went to a health care class every three to five times, and received three or five eggs and one or two boxes of noodles every time. After receiving it for a dozen times, she spent more than 4,000 yuan to buy a bunch of selenium-enriched wheat that is said to be able to treat high blood pressure and heart disease. It is moldy at home." Speaking of the temptation of health food marketing to the elderly at home, Huang Ling, who is engaged in market supervision, said that in the marketing process of health food, some consumers bought a bunch of unnecessary ordinary food at a high price.
In view of the chaos such as consumer fraud and false propaganda in the marketing process of health food, Hunan Provincial Market Supervision Bureau reminded consumers in this year’s "100 Days" special rectification campaign to be alert to various routines in the marketing process of health food, including: cheating in the name of "prevention", "health care" and "treatment" of traditional Chinese medicine, or under the guise of medical concepts and terms; Free gifts or "health care products" boxes and bills for gifts; Faking the name of public welfare activities to attract consumers to attend lectures on popularizing health knowledge is actually promoting "health care" products; Claiming that products can cure many diseases and lure consumers; Provide family services at home and sell products to the elderly; Selling "health care" products (services) with free travel as the gimmick; The use of health programs (columns), disguised release of medical, pharmaceutical, "health" food advertisements; Through the network, "brushing the letter" makes consumers misunderstand the product sales; Lure consumers to invest, buy, etc. under the guise of high returns from buying company stocks.
On January 8 this year, 13 departments including the State Administration of Market Supervision jointly launched a nationwide "100-day" campaign to rectify the chaos in the health care market, and the market supervision department of Hunan Province responded quickly. It is reported that in the "100-day" rectification campaign, Hunan Province filed 646 cases, recovering economic losses of 6.5542 million yuan for consumers, and investigated and dealt with a number of illegal cases with serious circumstances and strong social repercussions, such as false propaganda of Xinqi Health Industry Group Co., Ltd.
The warning words of the new regulations are written on the packaging box for the convenience of consumers.
The Guide published by the State Administration of Market Supervision on August 20th, as a new measure to overweight the supervision of health care products market after the "100-day" rectification action, focuses on the supervision of products after listing from three aspects.
First of all, it puts forward clear requirements on the warning signs of health food labels.
Product label is the carrier for enterprises to express product information to consumers, and it is also the way for consumers to obtain product information directly. Whether the marked content is true, clear and complete directly affects consumers’ judgment and choice. The reporter found that although the health food currently on sale in the market can’t relate to the functions of disease prevention and treatment, it only states that "this product can’t replace drugs", and the position and size of the statement are not specific and often inconspicuous, which is difficult to attract consumers’ attention, and gives the marketing behavior of false propaganda and exaggerated efficacy an opportunity.
The "Guide" makes it clear that health food should be provided with an obvious warning area, which is located on the main display page of the smallest package. It is necessary to mark the warning that "health food is not a drug and cannot replace drugs to treat diseases". The warning area should be no less than 20% of its layout, and at the same time, it should be in bold type to make consumers, especially the elderly, see it more clearly.
"In the packaging of health food, the shelf life is difficult to find, and some indicate the shelf life of 18 months, 36 months, ‘ See Seal for the production date ’ It is not only difficult to find, but also takes half a day to calculate. " The Guide also has new standard requirements for the problems of "can’t find", "can’t see clearly" and "difficult to calculate" in the way of labeling the shelf life generally reflected by the elderly consumers who buy health food in pharmacies.
The Guide makes it clear that the shelf life should be marked in a unified form and described in the way of "shelf life to a certain day of a certain year". In the labeling position of the shelf life, it is required to clearly mark the shelf life and production date on the obvious position of the minimum sales package (container) of the product. If the date is marked with "see a part of the package", the specific position of the package should be accurately marked. In terms of color difference, it is also required that the shelf life label should be in sharp contrast with the background color of the location, so that the shelf life can be seen at a glance and it is convenient for consumers to buy.
In addition, the Guide also puts forward detailed requirements for labeling service telephones and business premises with consumer tips.
In daily life, consumers often encounter some questions or problems when eating health food, such as whether children can eat it, whether the elderly are suitable to eat it, how to deal with the problems encountered in the process of eating, etc. Who to consult and reflect these questions or problems has always been a headache for consumers. In order to facilitate consumers to get advice in time when they encounter difficult problems, the Guide stipulates that information such as complaint service telephone number and service time should be clearly marked on the label of health food. Production and operation enterprises should answer and handle complaints and reports during the service period, and the relevant information should be kept for at least two years.
Influence helps to urge enterprises to implement the main responsibility.
Health food is not medicine, and it can’t cure diseases. The market supervision department will standardize from the label identification, which will play a positive guiding role in implementing the main responsibility of enterprises and standardizing the sales behavior of merchants.
As a kind of special food, according to the provisions of the Food Safety Law, producers and operators are responsible for the contents of the labels provided by them. The labels of health food should not involve the functions of disease prevention and treatment, and the contents should be true and the labels should be clear and obvious.
The Guide further requires that warning language be marked on the label, which shows the self-declaration of the real information of the product, reflects the self-commitment of the enterprise to the main responsibility, and is conducive to strengthening the awareness of honesty and self-discipline in the food industry.
In order to remind consumers more intuitively to be rational and understand consumption, and also to restrain and supervise the marketing behavior of merchants, the Guide also stipulates that health food operators should mark consumption tips in prominent positions such as business premises and online platforms. The market supervision department has even studied and formulated a reference template for health food consumption tips, which mainly includes: health food is food, not medicine, and cannot replace medicine to treat diseases; When purchasing health food, we should recognize the approval number and mark, and choose and eat according to the suitable crowd and the unsuitable crowd; Go to regular shopping malls, supermarkets, pharmacies and other business units to buy; In case of violation of laws and regulations, you can report to the local market supervision department or call 12315 to report complaints.
In recent years, the "chaos" in the health food market has become a major problem. Many consumers have a weak ability to distinguish health food, while some unscrupulous merchants exaggerate their propaganda by taking advantage of "emptiness", which makes many consumers suffer greatly. According to the relevant person in charge of health care industry Association, it is an important embodiment to protect consumers’ right to know by labeling warning words in a conspicuous position, so that consumers can enjoy the right to know the real information of the goods they buy and use, which is conducive to the formation of a long-term mechanism to resist false propaganda and prevent consumer fraud.
Maintain the healthy ecology of health care products market
Xiao Yinglin
Since ancient times, health and longevity have been one of people’s wishes for a better life. Young people’s greetings and blessings to the elderly are the most sincere and most listened to words: "I wish you happiness as the East China Sea lives longer than the South Mountain". Nowadays, the life of ordinary people is getting more and more comfortable, and health care is an ordinary topic for people. The elderly turn the blessings of their younger generations into their own actions. For example, listen to the wind and buy all kinds of health care products, or even buy them inexplicably.
As everyone knows, in the market, there are inevitably bad businesses that make money. Faced with the huge market demand, they either illegally launch products, or make false propaganda and confuse them, or make a big fuss about packaging … … Especially for some elderly people, it can be said that it is omnipotent. In recent years, the problem of merchants deceiving the elderly to buy products for profiteering by false propaganda has emerged one after another.
With more and more elderly people in China and the development of the national strategy of "Healthy China", the market for health care products is growing. In a sense, this industry is growing into a "giant". However, some health care products with serious circumstances and strong social repercussions in cheat people have made the "giant" move forward with illness, which is unacceptable. Everyone knows that cancer growth factor appears in the body, so it must be eliminated as soon as possible by medication and even surgery, which can make the body healthy and strong.
Now, the State Administration of Market Supervision has published the "Guidelines for Warning Terms of Health Food Labeling", which focuses on the supervision of products after listing from three aspects. It is believed that with the overweight of supervision, through the efforts of all parties, counterfeiting will be eliminated and the healthy ecology of the health care product market will be maintained.
