With the continuous expansion of the online trading market, the sale of special foods (health food, food for special medical purpose, infant and young children formula milk powder) on the Internet has become a concern for operators. In accordance with the regulations such as the Guidelines for Compliance of Online Sales of Special Food, the specific questions and answers are as follows.

About 'Admission'

Q1: Can special food be sold online?

A1: It can be sold in accordance with laws and regulations.

Q2: Do special food online sales entities need licenses and filings?

A2: Yes. Food producers and operators who join the network should sell foods within the scope of category of their food production and operation licenses. However, the following situations do not require obtaining a food operation license: only sell prepackaged foods (subject to filing); food producers who have already obtained a food production license sell their own produced food online.

About 'Public Notice'

Q1: What information needs to be disclosed for the online sales of special food?

A1: Food producers and operators who trade through third-party platforms should publicize their food production and operation licenses in a prominent position on the main page of their business activities. Food producers and operators who trade through self-built websites should publicize the business license and food production and operation license in a prominent place on the home page of their websites.

Those who only sell prepackaged foods through the network, should publicize the name of food business operators, business premises address, filing number and other relevant filing information in a prominent position on the main page of their business activities.

Those who sell special food on the network, should also publicize the certificate of registration of the product or the filing voucher in accordance with laws.

Q2: Does special food sold online require a dedicated area, like in physical stores?

A2: Special food sold online should be clearly distinguished from general food, medicines, etc. on the webpage display to avoid confusion. It can be achieved through methods including but not limited to: setting a unified entrance for special food on the platform homepage or store homepage, using pop-up prompts, as well as setting different font styles, colors and sizes for webpages selling special foods.

Q3: Does health food sold online also need prompt words?

A3: The sales page of health food should prominently mark information such as 'Health food is not a medicine and cannot replace medicine for treating diseases'.

Q4: Does infant and young children formula milk powder nearing expiration date sold online also need prompt words?

A4: For online sales of infant and young children formula milk powder with a shelf life of less than 1 month, it should be prominently prompted on the sales page.

About 'Prohibition'

Q: What are the prohibited behaviors for the online sale of special food?

A: Specific complete nutrition formula food in food for special medical purpose are prohibited from online transactions.

The sale is prohibited if the certificate of registration or filing voucher does not match the registration or filing information.

Prohibit the sale of infant and young children formula milk powder that explicitly or implicitly have functions or health benefits such as intelligence enhancement, increasing resistance, improving immunity or intestinal protection.

Infant and young children formula milk powder is prohibited from being sub-packaged. It is illegal for businesses to sub-pack infant and young children formula milk powder into small packages or trial packages for online sales.

About 'Promotion'

Q: What are the requirements for advertising and promotion of online sales of special food?

A: The online sales of special food should be regulated in accordance with the Advertising Law and other regulations. In addition to complying with the provisions of food safety laws and regulations, the online sales of special food should also strictly adhere to the provisions of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and other relevant laws and regulations, and resolutely eliminate illegal activities such as false advertising and exaggerated promotion of foods.

There is a certain correlation between food for special medical purpose and medical devices. In addition to complying with the provisions of food safety laws and regulations, the advertising activities should also comply with the relevant provisions on drug advertising management.

Note: the label and instruction of food for special medical purpose should not contain false information and should not involve disease prevention or treatment functions.

About 'Exit'

Q: If the online store is closing, is it necessary to give advance notice?

A: If an online seller of special food intends to cease its sales activities, relevant information should be continuously disclosed 30 natural days prior to the cessation of sales activities in accordance with laws. The information disclosure should be prominently displayed on the homepage. Failure to fulfill the obligation may result in administrative penalties in accordance with laws.

The market supervision department reminds all special food online sellers to strengthen their sense of responsibility, effectively implement the main responsibility for food safety, and jointly ensure the safety of special food sold online.

Source: Dalian Administration for Market Regulation

Note: This article is compiled by Antion. Please indicate the source for reprint.