China focus: Postbiotics standards, Yili’s AI platform, tariff removal, Shiseido’s beauty-from-within supplements
Postbiotics quantification: China health foods association rallies firms to draft industry standards
China Nutrition and Health Food Association (CNHFA) is drafting industry standards for quantifying postbiotics or inactivated cells, and is rallying industry players and the public to take part in the process.
Industry players and the public could send in their suggestions to the CNHFA before March 1.
The National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) will lead the drafting process and in the past year, it has drafted cytometry standards to quantify cell counts with the use of fluorescent labelling.
‘No silver bullet’: Yili reveals benefits, and limitations, of internal AI platform
Chinese dairy giant Yili believes that artificial intelligence (AI) in product innovation lies in formulation and efficiency improvements, but stresses it is no silver bullet to create good end-product results.
Yili developed its own internal version of AI platform Chat-GPT, dubbed Yili-GPT, several years ago.
The company has sought to use this internally for problem-solving across various business areas, and has concluded that it is “useful but limited” in terms of producing results.
Dairy dash: China’s final tariff removals open new opportunities for New Zealand brands
China’s recent removal of tariffs on all dairy products from New Zealand, including milk powder used for both general consumption and processing to infant formula, could spell huge potential for brands that have a strong focus on quality and sustainability.
China and New Zealand signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in 2008, but with regard to dairy, it has taken 16 years to finally see all tariffs removed.
Various New Zealand dairy products have seen export tariff decreases over the years, but although many of these hit zero in 2019, duties were still in place for liquid milk, butter and cheese until 2021; and for milk powder until Dec 31, 2023.
Shiseido to launch beauty-from-within ampoule drinks in Japan, China from April 2024
Shiseido will be launching a new set of beauty-from-within supplements in the form of ampoule drinks in Japan and China this year, Carol Zhou, senior vice president of the company’s China Business Innovations and Investments told NutraIngredients-Asia.
The upcoming launch, slated to first take place in Japan this April, is an extension to the existing range under INRYU, Shiseido’s beauty-from-within brand. The new products come in boxes of 10 ampoules drinks – designed for a 10-day regimen.
Zhou emphasised that the beauty-from-within category is “a key strategic area” that the company is focusing on.
Opportunities for beauty-from-within abound in China and India, with young consumers, niche ingredients key
Companies aiming to tap into China and India’s ingestible beauty markets should target young consumers and utilise proven ingredients to push growth, say industry experts.
An elevated emphasis on personal well-being, greater consumption of dietary supplements, and multi-function claims that serve both health and aesthetics needs are said to be some of the key factors driving the nutricosmetics sector.
In Asia, a sizeable market share is held by China, where increasing consumer demand and spending in this category has prompted companies to venture further into it.
