China welcomes guidance on dietary supplements
before the end of the year and has welcomed the new guidance issued
by the International Alliance of Dietary Supplement Associations
(IADSA).
The guidelines were the result of a workshop held in Beijing last month, which recognized that China's political and economic growth will lead to a growth in the supplement market.
The State Food and Drug Administration of China (SFDA) and its affiliated organisation, the China Center for Pharmaceutical International Exchange (CCPIE), are keen to work with the IADSA and learn from the experiences of other regions to develop suitable guidance.
Further consultations between senior Chinese government officials and global industry experts will be held in Beijing September and then in December, to coincide with Nutracon China.
The CCPIE said that it "is dedicated to non-governmental international communication and cooperation and welcomed this opportunity to work with IADSA".
The Deputy Commissioner of the SFDA of China, Professor Ren Dequan, invited IADSA to hold the workshop to give government officials a greater understanding of the regulatory models in other regions of the world and provide an update on the core framework that is being developed within food law by the global standards-setting body, Codex Alimentarius, of which China is a member.
IADSA is currently in discussions with the Chinese SFDA to organise a joint conference on dietary supplements in 2005.
