According to SIAL China report, recently the State Administration for Market Regulation started to solicit for public opinion on "the Food Safety Law of People's Republic of China" (draft amendment for comment), which proposed to put infant formula liquid milk (hereinafter referred to as" liquid baby milk") into the registration management.

The draft amendment for comment will change the term "infant formula milk powder" in Food Safety Law, Article 81, Article 82, Article 124 into "infant formula milk powder (liquid milk)".

Liquid infant formula is a commercially sterile liquid product made of water, raw milk, desalted whey (powder), vegetable oil, etc., with an appropriate amount of vitamins, minerals and/or other raw materials added and sterilized at high temperatures. The 2015 revision of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China requires strict supervision and management of special food products, such as infant formula, but since liquid infant formula is a new type of product, it was not included in the revision of the law. The revision only stipulated that infant formula is subject to registration management.

In the explanation of the consultation draft,the safety demonstrations organized by the State Administration for Market Regulation for many times suggest that liquid infant formula has the characteristics of products with high moisture content and rich nutrition, and the technical requirements of microbial control, stability, product packaging and other aspects of production and quality control are higher than that of infant formula, and in order to minimize the risk of food safety and safeguard the health and safety of infants and young children, it is necessary to adopt at least the same level of or stricter management mode of infant formula. It is also a must to implement registration management at the national level.

"This will bring new growth points for the development of the industry." In an interview with reporters, dairy analyst Song Liang said that the exposure draft upgrades the regulation of liquid infant formula from a filing system to a registration system, which not only meets the diversified needs of consumers, but also raises the threshold of production for enterprises and standardizes the industry's development.

"Solid dairy products will give way to liquid dairy products, which will be an important trend in the future. In the medium to long term, the liquid baby formula market will develop faster." Song Liang said.

However, the State Administration for Market Regulation also pointed out in the note of this consultation draft that at present, there is no liquid baby formula production in China, and due to the impact of short shelf-life, high price, and the eating habits of the Chinese, the domestic market has not yet formed a scale, and the products on the market are all from imports.

Song Liang said, liquid baby with high costs due to packaging, transportation, pricing is higher than ordinary milk powder, and does not meet the national hot food habits, so the current market acceptance needs to be improved. But with the liquid baby with the market gradually warmed up, in addition to imported products, is expected to domestic enterprises will also layout liquid baby with the product. 

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