The European Commission (EC) has moved a step closer to establishing a Coordinated Control Plan on the internet sale of food (CCP-efood) within the European Union.
Officials behind India's new goods and services tax (GST) have been accused of a major oversight for failing to set a dedicated rate for supplements, which means they are now subject to more tax than the industry had anticipated.
The Singapore minister leading a government task force reviewing infant formula prices has told parents to give their children a spoon-and-a-half of salmon because it 'provides as much DHA as 30 bottles of milk'.
Reports that some infant formula products on sale in Australia and New Zealand contain potentially 'dangerous' nanoscale particles have been dismissed by regulators and scientists — with one branding it blatant 'scaremongering'.
New Zealand's long-awaited Natural Health Products Bill is unlikley to be put before parliament before September's election, according to the Ministry of Health.
A weight loss supplement has been branded "a serious health risk" after officials in Australia found it contained the prescription-only medication sibutramine.
Five major New Zealand manufacturers – backed by trade body Natural Products New Zealand (NPNZ) – have hit out at a "small group of detractors” which they claim is creating "misinformation" about the country's proposed Natural Health...
Cross-border e-commerce will remain the dominant channel for supplements sales in China, with the sports nutrition sector being identified as category primed for sustained growth. That’s the view of Jeff Crowther, executive director of the US-China Health...
China could set up a dedicated bureau for e-commerce as online sales continue to rise and on the back of widespread regulatory uncertainty that has affected many international supplement firms using cross-border channels.
Food supplements and nutraceuticals in India could become significantly more costly after 1 July because they face being subjected to a 28% general sales tax (GST) rate.
Trade body Complementary Medicines Australia (CMA) has backed a new report into preventive health, which details how the country is lagging behind fellow OECD nations Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Badan Pom (BPOM), The National Agency of Drug and Food Control of Indonesia, has revoked tough restrictions issued at the end of last year for omega-3 supplements.
Text message reminders provide an effective way of promoting folic acid supplementation to help prevent neural tube defects among pregnant women in rural China, a new study has found.
Infant formula milk manufacturers claim stricter regulations planned by the Singapore government could lead to consumers having limited access to important nutritional information.
The definition of probiotic varies by region, and an increasing number of products potentially mislabeled as “probiotic”. In response, the International Probiotics Association has released a guidance document.
Australia and New Zealand are now among the OECD’s five most obese nations, while Japan and South Korea are the two least obese nations on the list, according to the OECD’s Obesity Update 2017.
The Singapore government has established a task force to counter the country’s increasing formula milk prices, with health and nutrition claims set to be severely restricted.
When he heard the news that a council of antipodean ministers had decided to permit the sale of hemp seed as a food last month, Harry Youngman thought: “At last, they’ve finally seen reason.”
On Friday, April 28, Australia—and to some extent New Zealand—witnessed the birth of a brand new industry segment, when a council of ministers agreed finally to permit the consumption of hemp seeds by humans as food.
“We’re good at publishing obesity plans, but not funding action”: That’s how the president of the Nutrition Society of Malaysia Dr E-Siong Tee has described his country’s efforts at improving health in a nation where one-in-two adults are overweight or...
Regulators in Asia should not wait for new CODEX regulations for infant formula and act now to cut the amount of protein required in order to help reduce obesity, a leading expert in the region has argued.
According to a senior official at the FSSAI, the food authority has now cast off its reputation as an impregnable fortress whose top-down approach risked alienating food players across India.
Singapore’s minister of state for health has revealed a new business-first approach to encourage healthier food development as part of a three-pronged “war on diabetes”.
In its latest cleanup of its food facility registration database, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has culled an eye-opening 28% of existing registrations. The biggest drops happened in overseas sites.
A large number of Korean infants and young children still develop iron deficiency anaemia despite increased breastfeeding rates, improvements in public health and a rise in iron-fortified food, a recent study discovered.
Pharmacists in South East Asia need to play a pivotal role in guiding pregnant women to take the correct supplements and combat the widespread ‘misinformation’ that is available online.
Indonesian regulators didn’t have the ‘full picture’ when they slashed the permitted daily limit for omega-3 health claims earlier this year, claims the country’s trade association boss.
The New Zealand government is committed to helping natural products and supplements firms meet their export potential by removing barriers to innovation, according to the country’s environment minister.
Trade body Natural Products New Zealand is hoping new industry regulations – which it believes will help boost exports – can finally be passed before the nation’s elections in September.
Misleading health claims are still rife in Indonesia despite tighter functional food rules, claims a new association set up to ‘professionalise the industry’.
China’s Commerce Ministry appears to have halted plans for more stringent cross border e-commerce rules, meaning many goods will still be regarded as personal trade, rather than for commercial distribution.
Complementary medicine firms in Australia have just one week more to respond to a raft of proposed regulatory changes being considered by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Vitamins manufacturer Blackmores was fined AUS$65,000 (US$50,000), and publicly named and shamed by authorities in China for breaching strict advertising laws.
There is vast scope to improve glycaemic control among type 2 diabetics in Malaysia by boosting nutrition knowledge and the intake of dairy, a cross-sectional study has found.
China’s ageing population has poorer cognitive and physical function compared with their counterparts from 10 years ago, according to the largest study of its kind, published in The Lancet.
Bangladesh’s considerable nutritional improvements in recent years can be attributed to wider economic and social progress, not specific nutrition-focused policies which have been branded ‘weak’ and ‘sporadic’.
Japan will provide more staff to work at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to underscore its efforts to help reduce hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.
A number public policy, health and community measures have been identified by researchers in Australia to help reduce rising obesity rates among child immigrants.
More infants in Vietnam received complementary foods thanks to a widespread social franchising, marketing and branding campaign that targeted new mothers, providing 'rigorous evidence' that such strategies can help combat malnutrition.
Gaining a greater understanding of Singaporeans' understanding of supplements – and the types of services and advice they want pharmacists to provide – has become a key focus for Blackmores Institute as it prepares to host its first symposium in...
'Kids throw milk at each other...it's a waste of public money'
Students in Sri Lanka are not eating healthy diets and are shunning school milk programmes due to social and cultural factors, and until these are tackled the country’s double burden of malnutrition will remain, experts say.
Industry and academic experts have been responding to Australia’s decision to establish a legal medicinal cannabis trade – with most welcoming it as a positive first step – while others are eagerly awaiting a judgement in April which will rule if hemp...
More than 20% of Indonesian homes are thought to experience the double burden of malnutrition – both undernutrition and overweight/obesity – with households of a higher socioeconomic status most at risk.