New materials for food production must be subjected to risk assessment from qualified institutions before they can be approved, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) said on November 12.

The NHFPC has added the requirement to recent regulations on applications for new foodstuffs, saying that assessment must contain a review of hygiene, virology and an analysis of composition.

It should also include research, usage and sales information from other countries, risk assessment by international organizations and safety studies in scientific journals, according to the commission.

The new regulations stipulate that new food materials should have the characteristics of raw food, conform to nutritional requirements and have no health risks.

A panel of NHFPC experts will examine applications.