The Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has issued new “Interim Rules for Health Food Advertisement Reviewing”. As of July 1, 2005 all health food ads will require an approval from provincial food and drug administrations prior to publication.
Health food ads are not allowed to be disguised as news reports, and must state that the featured product “cannot substitute any medicine”. This statement must be “marked clearly in printed ads and should be kept always on screen in TV commercials”.
According to Xinhua, SFDA will also examine whether an ad carries “expressions that might cause confusion with drugs, whether it overstates curative effects, and whether it has made use of the name or image of medical institutions, doctors, experts or consumers to testify to specific efficacy”.
SFDA will publish a list of health food ads that have met the new requirements on its web site after July 1. In addition, provincial food and drug administration departments will publish monthly notices on illegal health food ads.