China Focus: Low-risk COVID-19 positive food imports, personalised nutrition to help obese adults, BYHEALTH Asia focus and more feature in our round-up
China COVID-19 updates: 'Low-risk’ food imports that test positive for virus allowed, but frozen items still in the cold
China has relaxed entry rules for ‘low risk’ food and beverage imports that ‘test positive’ for COVID-19, citing the virus’ short survival time on packaging surfaces.
More than two years after the COVID-19 virus first emerged in Wuhan, China back in December 2019, it seems the government is finally moving to relax these import regulations for foods and beverages - possibly signalling its intent to get its international trade back on track – but cold-chain items are unfortunately not part of this relaxation.
“Recent research has shown that under normal temperature conditions, COVID-19 has a short survival time on the surface of most items and is completely inactivated within one day,” China’s State Council Comprehensive Team of COVID-19 Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism stated via a formal statement.
Personalised nutrition significantly improved BMI, waistlines in obese Chinese adults – Amway-funded RCT
Personalised nutrition intervention could be more beneficial than conventional methods in improving the health statuses of overweight and obese Chinese adults.
With tailored nutritional advice, supplement intake and service, subjects involved in a 12-week RCT had better BMIs, body fat percentages, waist circumferences, blood lipids and uric acid levels. The Amway-funded study titled “Personalized Nutrition Intervention Improves Health Status in Overweight/Obese Chinese Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial” was published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.
“Most population strategies to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases have used conventional ‘one size fits all’ public health recommendations throughout the past decades, but with limited efficacy.
Export goals: Attention turns to new Asia markets as China’s CBEC sector saturates – BYHEALTH International
BYHEALTH International is seeking opportunities in more overseas markets, including South East Asia and the US, as the cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) sector in China reaches a point of saturation.
As a result of COVID-19, the company noticed that the majority of the daigou business has switched to doing CBEC, and China’s CBEC market has now come to a point of saturation, which is encourage firms to invest more in other markets, according to Jesse Gu, head of sales and marketing at BYHEALTH International.
“There are three parts to focus on in the overall e-commerce environment in China: the traditional e-commerce, such as Tmall Direct Import, flagship stores, Ali health, and the sub-distribution channels, such as the POP stores, or distributors who can open their boutique stores (专卖店), and the interest-based e-commerce platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou.
Quality control: Industry sets self-regulating standards to safeguard NMN quality in China
A group of companies making nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and industry big names such as hyaluronic acid specialist Bloomage Biotechnology have published a set of technical standards to safeguard the quality of NMN products sold in China.
Known as ‘Product requirements and test methods for β-nicotinamide mononucleotide’, this is a set of self-regulating standards set by the industry following a year of deliberation.
It has been officially implemented on August 12 and is non-legally binding since it is neither drafted nor enforced by the government.
Sweet success: Turkish honey brand Polenkoy achieves 30% growth in India, Australia, eyes wider-Asia
Turkey’s honey brand Polenkoy is targeting a deeper reach into the Asian market after achieving 30% growth year-on-year through its partners in India and Australia.
According to CEO Mikail Cosar, the brand has achieved its goals in the Middle East, India and Australia; hence, it is targeting more Asian markets, like China, Hong Kong, Japan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore.
“The Asia and Asia Pacific region is important as its people practise healthy lifestyles compared to other parts of the world. This philosophy is important when it comes to marketing our products in the region. We are currently carrying out research and development (R&D) on how to enter more of such markets.
