"Three new" foods refer to novel food ingredients, new varieties of food additives and new varieties of food related products. Declaration and review must be carried out before production. Only after being reviewed and approved by the National Health Commission (hereinafter referred to as the NHC) can they be produced and sold. In order to facilitate the understanding of "three new" foods among enterprises, Antion has compiled a detailed list of the application and approval contents for "three new" foods in August 2025 based on the information released by the National Health Commission. The details are as follows:
In August 2025, the NHC released a total of 59 cases of acceptance and approval information for "three new" foods, and the overall number of accepted and approved cases decreased compared with that in the previous month. There were 20 novel food ingredients, among which 1 case with review opinions issued, 19 cases were postponed; There were 29 new varieties of food additives, among which 12 cases were accepted, 6 cases with review opinions issued, 11 cases were postponed; There were 10 new varieties of food related products, among which 5 cases with review opinions issued, 5 cases were postponed.
Most of the novel food ingredients accepted for approval this month are postponed. In July, D-allulose was approved as a novel food ingredient for the first time. D-allulose is a hexose ketose with stable chemical properties, excellent water solubility and other physical properties. It has a pure taste, no aftertaste and almost no calories. After intake, it hardly participates in human metabolism and does not affect blood sugar levels. Therefore, it has outstanding application value in the field of food processing. However, the D-allulose declared this month still needs to further supplement the application materials in accordance with the relevant requirements for the declaration of novel food ingredients. In addition, L-ergothioneine is a hot spot for the application of novel food ingredients this month, with a total of 5 cases declared. L-ergothioneine is a sulfur-containing amino acid, which is mostly prepared by synthetic biology methods and has certain application potential in anti-aging and promoting metabolism. At present, most of L-ergothioneine declared are in the stage of delayed correction. It is required to improve the application materials in a timely manner according to the correction suggestions so as to meet the requirements for the application of novel food ingredients as soon as possible.
In the application project of new varieties of food additives, the overall number of declarations this month is lower than that of last month, and there were a total of 9 applications for human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), among which 5 cases were accepted, 4 cases were postponed. The number of its applications accounted for 31% of the total number of the applications of new varieties of food additives, which decreased compared to that last month, while the proportion of applications remained basically stable with a small fluctuation, indicating that HMOs still stands out in the application research of food additives. Since 2021, a total of 66 cases of HMOs have been applied. Among them, public opinions have been solicited on 2'FL, 3FL, 3'-SL, 6'-SL, LNnT and LNT; At present, 19 cases have been approved, including 16 cases of 2'FL and 3 cases of LNnT, all of which are derived from genetically modified microorganisms. Antion has successfully completed the application work for two of these cases and has rich successful experience in the application of such projects. Among the remaining HMOs projects, there are 6 cases in the acceptance stage, 32 cases with postponed review, 2 cases with review opinions issued, and 7 cases without administrative permission.
Based on rich and successful experience in the application for "three new" foods, Antion suggests that for the "three new" foods that have already been approved, when other enterprises apply for the same product, their quality specifications should be consistent with the approval announcement; For the "three new" foods that are currently under public opinions, if other enterprises apply for the same product, it is recommended to wait until the approval announcement is released before submitting the application materials, so as to shorten the application cycle and reduce the application cost.
Source: Antion
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