Recently, the Food Evaluation Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation has issued health food approval documents (decision letters) for over a hundred products, including fish oil soft capsules, bovine colostrum powder capsules, collagen sodium hyaluronate oral liquid, etc. However, in addition to the special foods approved in China, functional foods such as collagen gummy, vitamin biscuits, liver protecting gummy, white kidney bean chewable tablets, and goji berry puree have also become the target for young consumers to choose snacks due to their nutritional and healthy properties. Compared to special foods that require strict approval processes, what is the development of functional foods in the market?
'Light nutrition' food is highly favored by young people
Recently, topics such as "buying sour plum soup at a traditional Chinese medicine store" and "drinking traditional Chinese medicine milk tea at a traditional Chinese medicine store" have sparked a wave of excitement online. Similar to consumers' previous pursuit of health foods such as weight management foods and sleep aid foods, choosing more nutritious and healthy foods has become a popular lifestyle among young people.
This naked oats biscuit from Ningwu, Shanxi Province surprised me. I didn't expect it to taste good when made into biscuits. The most important thing is that the product contains a variety of dietary fibers, strong satiety, and healthy ingredients, making it perfect as a snack between meals. "At the 5th International Food Safety and Nutritional Health Summit Forum, a participant was quite moved after tasting naked oats biscuits.
In fact, there are many similar nutritious and healthy foods that are experiencing rapid development. The "Generation Z Nutrition Consumption Trend Report" shows that in 2021, the domestic nutrition market terminal had a market size of over 260 billion yuan, with dietary supplements and vitamins accounting for 70%. Sports nutrition has the fastest growth rate, and it is predicted that the market size will reach 320 billion yuan by 2025. Among them, young people are becoming the main force of current health consumption, with an average annual expenditure of over 1000 yuan per urban resident on health preservation. The proportion of young consumers aged 18-35 is as high as 83.7%. The most important functions among the nutritional foods purchased for oneself are vitamins/minerals, enhancing immunity, and improving sleep. The demand of young people is becoming increasingly diverse and differentiated, and the consumer market is showing multiple growth points. Compared to traditional supplements, portable, simple, and ready to eat "light nutrition" products are more favored by Generation Z.
Policy support for the development of homologous functional ingredients in medicine and food
Functional foods with both nutritional and health attributes have been continuously innovated in the development process and have been included in key development projects by multiple governments.
The 14th Five Year Plan for the Development of the Great Health Industry in Hubei Province points out that accelerating the development of functional foods will be included in the promotion and upgrading of health food. Focus on developing targeted health intervention designed functional foods that enhance immunity, regulate sub health, delay aging, and improve intelligence. Actively develop and produce infant formula food, personalized nutritional food for the elderly, and intestinal microbiota regulation food. Strengthen the exploration of functional components from medicinal and food homologous plants and food development. Promote the development and application of functional foods such as medicinal and food homologous foods and selenium rich foods in food therapy, health care, and disease prevention, and increase the added value of products.
The Development Plan for the Functional Food Industry in Shanxi Province (2018-2020) points out that based on the advantages of resources