"Three new" foods refer to novel food ingredients, new varieties of food additives and new varieties of food related products. Before entering the market, they must go through declaration and evaluation. Only after being approved by the National Health Commission (hereinafter referred to as the NHC) can they be sold. To help enterprises better understand "three new" foods, Antion sorted out the application and approval situation in June 2025 based on the information released by the National Health Commission.

In June 2025, the NHC released a total of 28 cases of acceptance and approval information for "three new" foods. There were 11 novel food ingredients, among which 5 cases were accepted, 1 case had review opinions issued, 5 cases were postponed; There were 6 new varieties of food additives, all of which were accepted; 1 case of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) was accepted; There were 11 new varieties of food related products, among which 1 case were accepted, 5 cases had review opinions issued, 5 cases were postponed.

In June, the overall number of declaration of "three new" foods decreased compared with the previous month. Plant extracts and probiotics remained hot topics in declaration projects of novel food ingredients. Since 2020, 7 plant extracts have been approved, 2 cases were open for public opinions, 5 cases were postponed, 2 cases were accepted, and 1 case was deny of administrative approval. Four extracts have been included in the Catalogue of Terminated Review of Novel Food Ingredients, which will not be elaborated here. Among them, Cyclocarya paliurus leaf extract has been declared 3 times, in which 2 cases were accepted and 1 case was postponed, indicating a relatively high attention. Cyclocarya paliurus has been used in traditional medicine to treat diseases such as diabetes. Its extract is rich in various components beneficial to the human body, such as flavonoids and polysaccharides. These components may be added to general food and functional foods, thus increasing the added value of products.

In the declaration projects of new varieties of food additives, in June, there was 1 human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) accepted. The research enthusiasm for the application of HMOs in food additives temporarily cooled down this month. Since 2021, a total of 59 cases of HMOs have been applied. Among them, 2'-fucosyllactose, 3-fucosyllactose, 3'-sialyllactose sodium, 6'-sialyllactose sodium, lacto-N-neotetraose and lacto-N-tetraose have been publicly solicited for opinions; At present, 16 cases were approved (13 cases of 2'-fucosyllactose and 3 cases of lacto-N-neotetraose), all of which were derived from genetically modified microorganisms. Antion has successfully completed the application work for many of its products and has rich successful experience in the application of such projects. Among the remaining HMOs projects, there are 6 cases in the acceptance stage, 28 cases with postponed review, 2 cases with review opinions issued, and 7 cases without administrative permission.

Based on rich and successful experience in the field of food approval and registration, Antion suggests that for the "three new" foods that have already been approved, when other enterprises apply for the same products, their quality specifications should be consistent with the approval announcement. For the "three new" foods that are currently under public opinions, if other enterprises plan to apply for the same products, it is recommended that they submit the application materials after the approval announcement is issued, so as to shorten the application cycle and reduce the application cost.

Source: Antion

Note: This article is compiled by Antion. Please indicate the source for reprint.