In recent years, there have been many health foods and health foods claiming to have medical effects, but they are actually illegal! What is the difference between health food and medicine? What is the "health food" that we often hear? Let Home Angel organize it for you in one go!
It turns out there are 4 major types of "health food"!
Health food is actually general food, which is composed of natural food or refined, processed or formulated combinations. It can supplement daily nutrition and help adjust the body. However,It cannot claim to have health care effects, nor can it claim to have the effect of treating diseases.. Generally includes 4 types:
1. Special nutritious food
Formulas for infants and older infants, formulas for specific diseases, and formulas approved by the central competent authority for use by people with special nutritional needs. (For example, weight loss meal replacement, nutritionally balanced formula for diabetes/kidney disease, etc.)
2. Functional food
In addition to basic nutrients, it is a general edible food that has specific health benefits. (For example: probiotics, yogurt, etc.)
3. Dietary supplements
Non-traditional edible capsules or tablets that can supplement nutrients or regulate special physiological functions. (For example: glucosamine, multivitamins, B complex, etc.)
4. Healthy food
Among the four types of health food, it is the only one that has substantial scientific evidence of "health benefits" and is labeled or advertised as having such effects. It is not a food with a medical purpose of treating or correcting human diseases.
Q. Can food that is good for the body be called healthy food?
The answer is: Wrong! You can’t just call your products “healthy food”!
"Health food" must have scientific evidence showing its health benefits.In Taiwan, you must apply for an inspection and registration permit from the Ministry of Health and Welfare before it can be called health food., this is what many food advertisements mean when they claim to have “passed the national health food certification”!
For approved health foods, the product packaging will be marked with "healthy food” words, license name, health effect description and other relevant provisions, as well as the little green man health food label. It looks like the picture below:
No matter it is health food or health food, it is not medicine and cannot cure diseases!
According to the provisions of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, only drugs that can be used to diagnose, treat, alleviate or prevent human diseases, or that can affect the structure and physiological functions of the human body, as determined by the central health authority, can be called drugs. Certified drugs must have a license number ("Department of Health Pharmaceutical Registration No. XXX", "Department of Health Pharmaceutical Registration No. qualified.
According to Article 28 of the Food Safety and Hygiene Management Act,Food must not be labeled, promoted or advertised for medical purposes. Whether it is health food or health food, it can only provide a certain degree of physiological regulation and health care effect, but cannot achieve the medical effect of treating, preventing or correcting diseases.
Any health/health food that claims to cure diseases is absolutely illegal.Before purchasing relevant foods, you can make use of the Food and Drug Administration's "Public Inquiry System for Illegal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Advertisements”, check whether there are any violations in food and medicine!
