These examples were discovered as part of the customs’ daily risk monitoring process.
Geng Fei Fei, spokeswoman for the Monitoring Centre and National Risk Assessment Centre for Cross-Border E-Commerce Commodity Quality and Safety, a unit housed under the Chinese customs, presented classic examples of health supplements violations at the Healthplex China Expo held in Shanghai from June 15 to 17.
1) Presence of banned additives, including food-grade gold
While food-grade gold is a permitted additive in countries such as Singapore and Japan, it is not permitted for sale as a health supplement in China under local regulations.
“Even if the products meet the requirements of the manufacturing country but are strictly prohibited by the law of our country, such products can’t be imported,“ said Geng. ”For example, food made of hemp and gold leaf is allowed to be sold in some countries, but our country has put up a clear ban notice on such products.”
There are also cases where products categorized as pharmaceutical drugs overseas are sold as food supplements in China via CBEC.
“Some whitening pills and weight management pills, when sold on CBEC platforms, did not state that they contain pharmaceutical substances and caution for use,” she said. “If consumers were to purchase and consume them as a normal food, it would pose a great risk to health and safety.”
Geng also gave examples where Tadalafil and Sildenafil were found in gummies and capsule supplements.
In fact, some products were found to contain high amounts of pharmaceutical drugs, but no information about these substances was declared on the product labeling.
Sibutramine, a banned toxic substance, remains a commonly found ingredient in errant weight management products.
“We have since formed a cooperation with relevant departments to strengthen the subsequent investigation and risk prevention,” she said.
2) Fake advertising and exaggerated claims
Fake advertising and exaggerated claims are the other common problems seen in CBEC products.
Edible bird’s nest, which is usually made in Malaysia and Indonesia, is one of the most popular health supplements in China.
However, there have been cases where ready-to-drink edible bird’s nest products contained no bird’s nest at all.
Likewise, for coenzyme Q10, which is commonly taken for cardiovascular health in China, there have been instances where the labelled amount was vastly different from the actual content.
“Similarly, for blood sugar management tablets, we did not detect any of the nutritional components labelled on the product packaging...The same goes for some of the camel milk powder that we have inspected,“ said Geng.
3) Counterfeits
There have been instances where CBEC platforms were found selling counterfeit imported goods and “special edition” products.
These products were, in fact, made in China but claimed to be made overseas.
During an inspection of four CBEC platforms, Geng and her colleagues randomly picked five products claimed to be Russia-made milk powder for the elderly.
“The results showed that all products did not meet local requirements, including requirements on calcium, protein, fat, sodium, water, etc,” she said. “We found that such products were popular among middle-aged and elderly users because they claimed to be au naturale and made using traditional processes. The price is also more affordable.”
However, based on records of the Chinese customs, no import information on such products was found, which led officials to suspect that these were fake imports originally made in China.
Following an investigative report on the brand “Youthit” by Chinese state media CCTV in April, the problem of fake imports has sparked public discussion across China.
CCTV’s report claims that “Youthit” - an Australian supplement brand - was actually manufactured locally in China. The brand’s registered address in Australia was a car repair workshop, and the brand was apparently unheard of among the locals.
Geng said that the operations behind fake imports usually involve the opening and registration of an overseas company and the purchase of a trademark.
After production is completed in China, these products will be exported and re-imported into China via CBEC and marketed as “popular overseas brands”.
In other instances, some products, while made overseas, are specially made for the Chinese market. Geng said that these products were found to be of inferior quality and were vastly different from the local versions in terms of ingredients and production techniques.
“Such behaviors will gravely affect CBEC activities and we hope that everyone can work together to put these activities to a stop,” she said. “The widespread occurrence of such behaviors could also lead to the tightening of national policies that are initially designed to promote CBEC.”
Challenges
Geng acknowledged that simply delisting or closing accounts selling health supplements containing banned substances is not a long-term solution.
Oftentimes, violators would find other ways to make their products available on the same CBEC platform again, such as registering and using a new seller’s account, constantly changing their product packaging, or even moving their transaction offline.
“When someone wants to buy the product, the seller will separately message the buyer a URL containing a QR code where they can contact each other outside of the CBEC platform. After which, the products would be delivered to the buyers,” she said.
Such cases are usually referred to the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), and Geng has urged the floor to pay greater attention to such cases.
