

In his speech, He Wei pointed out that health is mankind’s eternal pursuit. Attention paid to prevention, health care and health preservation has become a defining trend across the globe. Guidelines on the Implementation of Healthy China Initiative issued this July by the State Council, China’s cabinet, changed from a “treatment-centered” to “health-centered” approach. In this connection, functional special foods would play an important role. At this point, the special food industry must seize the opportunities and face up to challenges, gain a deeper understanding of how special foods protect human health, establish normalized industry standards, and guarantee the sound development of the special food industry, as well as the health of the Chinese people and people from the rest of the world.

Bian Zhenjia, President of CNHFA, noted that, as a pillar industry in China’s food sector, the special food industry has maintained vitality and growth, contributing greatly to socio-economic development. China’s special food industry is in an era of surging opportunities, with intensive innovation and growing vitality of major development and changes; the industry is in an era where nothing is impossible, and the in-depth integration between the demand side and the supply side is affecting and even reshaping China’s special food market and development structure; the industry is in an era of a shift of driving force, and the landscape of China’s special food industry is undergoing profound adjustment, injecting powerful impetus to economic growth and a healthy China. At the conference, on behalf of CNHFA, Bian Zhenjia proposed five major initiatives for China’s special food industry: transformation and upgrading for quality development; innovation-driven and well-balanced development; ecology first for green development; industrial integration for service-oriented development; and openness and tolerance for coordinated development.
The conference held 14 themed events centering on new markets, new driving force, new order, innovation and integrated development, new & old models, and challenges of industry development, special food creating healthy life, entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, and other focuses of the industry, as well as health food, infant formula milk powder, foods for special medical purpose, infant complementary food, and other industrial sectors. During the “Leaders Summit” section themed by “Restart by Innovation and Transform for a New Chapter Featuring Quality Development”, directors from a dozen of well-known large-scale special food enterprises at home and abroad discuss innovative strategies and create new chapters for the industry, presenting a brilliant feast of thought for people in the industry. During the conference, CNHFA officially established special committees of infant complementary food, intestinal microecology and products, and standardized testing and inspection of special food.
The conference appealed to more than 150 authoritative experts and over 1,200 representatives in the field of special food. As an authoritative industry conference in this field, China Special Food Conference has been successfully held for four years. A platform for achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration in the industry has taken shape, demonstrating and promoting the development and progress of China’s special food industry, and boosting exchanges and cooperation between governments, scholars, and in particular, companies in the industry. The conference is gradually becoming one of the influential event in the food sector.

In addition to the opening ceremony, the conference also held (the 3rd) China Health Food Conference, the 4th China Special Food Enterprise Presidents Roundtable Conference, (the 3rd) China Academic Conference on the Clinical Application of Foods for Special Medical Purpose & (the 4th) Industry Development Forum, the 1st International Forum on the Innovative Development of Health Food & (the 3rd) International Forum on Special Food Ingredients, China Infant Complementary Food Development Forum, (the 1st) Sino-Singapore Infant Formula Food Development Forum, (the 2nd) International Forum on China Intestinal Microecology and Products, (the 2nd) China Infant Formula Milk Powder Market Summit, (the 1st) China Organic Food Development Seminar, “Quality/Safety/Innovation” Forum, China Baby Nourishment Compliance and Innovation Development Forum, and other parallel sessions.
Since its founding in 2015, as a national food industry organization supervised by State Administration for Market Regulation, and with the vision of maintaining the health and harmony of the government, industry and the general public for the benefits of consumers, CNHFA has been focused on the field of nutritional and health food by building bridges, offering good services, striving to fulfill the responsibilities as a law and regulation participant, a supervisor, an advisor, a self-discipline practitioner, and a science disseminator, and making unremitting efforts to promote the development of China’s nutritional and health food industry and safeguard public health.