The guidelines are applicable to companies manufacturing the sports nutrition products in the province.
The regulations have come into effect from March 30. The provincial government first conducted a public consultation on the drafted regulations last September.
Beijing was the first in China to introduce guidelines on the production of sports nutrition. It implemented the guidelines in 2017 while the Guangdong province followed next in 2018.
In China, sport nutrition food is categorised as foods for special dietary uses (FSDU) and is regulated differently from health foods.
Specifically, sports nutrition foods are for supplementing energy, protein, sports endurance, sports recovery, as well as speed and power needs.
The regulations also outlined the types of consumers that sports nutrition foods should cater to.
For example, the products are catered to the metabolic, exercise, as well as the unique nutrition needs of individuals who exercise three times and above per week, with each session lasting for 30 minutes and above, and follow a mid-to-high intensity exercise regime.
Manufacturers should also specify the dosage format of the products, for instance, they could come in either powder, granule, semi-solid, or liquid form.
The regulation also stated that enterprises should establish a set of monitoring system which ensures that the formulation provides a balance set of nutrients, product stability, as well as product safety.
Licensed firms
With the regulations in place, manufacturers are supposed to obtain the production license from the authorities before they are allowed to produce sports nutrition products.
China’s sports nutrition brand CPT was the first to obtain the license from the Beijing authorities.
Last year, China-based contract manufacturer Sirio Pharma also obtained the approval and was one of the seven manufacturers to gain the approval in China back then.
Regulations elsewhere
There has been changes proposed or implemented to the sports nutrition regulatory framework in other parts of Asia in the past one year.
In India, the Food Safety and Standards Authority India (FSSAI) announced that all dietary supplements for sports use will be categorised as FSDU, and manufacturers will need to operate accordingly.
In Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has proposed to classify non-food appropriate sports supplements as therapeutic goods. If the proposal has passed through, the products will be subjected to a more thorough assessment.
