The 110th National Sugar and Alcohol Commodity Fair was held in Chengdu from March 20th to 22nd. More than 6,600 exhibitors from over 45 countries and regions worldwide participated in the fair. On March 19th, JD Supermarket, along with the China Light Industry Federation, the China Bakery Products Sugar Confectionery Industry Association, the China Food Industry Association, the China Food Fermentation Industry Research Institute, the China Dairy Industry Association, and over a hundred brands from the snack and beverage industry such as Nestlé, Mengniu, and Shuanghui, jointly established the Healthy Food Industry Alliance.
Li Ning, Deputy Secretary and Deputy Director of the Party Committee of the Industrial Culture Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that the food industry is an important livelihood industry that serves both producers and consumers. While promoting the development of the food industry, it is crucial to explore and disseminate excellent food culture to jointly promote the healthier development of China’s food industry.
The head of JD Supermarket’s business department stated that the healthification of food and beverages may become an important factor in the industry’s new qualitative productivity. The Healthy Food Industry Alliance is just the beginning, and JD Supermarket hopes to make concrete, valuable, and long-term contributions with the support of all parties.
It is reported that JD Supermarket announced on the same day that it will allocate 1 billion resources this year from product innovation, traffic support, marketing activities, and consumer guidance, focusing on supporting the growth of 12 major categories of health trend food and beverage products.
Specifically, in the beverage and beverage category, JD Supermarket will focus on six categories: low sugar and low GI, pure ingredients, high protein and high calcium, Chinese organic, low fat/0 fat, and children’s health. In terms of snacks, it will focus on six categories: high nutrient density, low sugar and low GI, 0 trans fatty acids, medicinal and edible homology, green and additive-free, low fat and low calorie.
At the same time, JD Supermarket will further strengthen the display of product ingredient components, starting from nutritional information, quality standards, quality labels, etc., to establish a health label covering the consumer purchasing chain, making product information more transparent, visible, understandable to consumers, and helping merchants achieve growth.
According to Duan Shenglin, Deputy Director of the China Food Fermentation Industry Research Institute, in order to avoid consumers falling into the trap of “pseudo-healthy foods,” JD has cooperated with JD to try out the “CFRI-JD Low GI Food Special Zone,” and has conducted a large amount of work on origin tracing, authenticity identification, clinical practice, and popular science propaganda.
At present, the food industry has entered a key node of transformation and upgrading, with richer categories, finer segmentation of functions, and higher cost-effectiveness becoming the direction of development of the health food industry.
According to the “2024 JD Food and Beverage Health Trend White Paper,” medicinal and edible homology, dietary fiber, high nutrient density, precise nutrition, multi-plant-based, natural ingredients, low sugar/0 sugar, low GI, low sensitivity care, original restoration, clean label, and children’s health have become twelve consumer trends. In addition, “pure ingredients” are the most concerned factor for consumers.
Sun Shuxia, consultant of the World Health Organization Health Education Promotion Research Center, nutritionist, and academician of the European Academy of Natural Sciences, believes that food upgrading is inevitable. If you can avoid adding, don’t add; if you can add less, add less; if you can add functionality, add functionality, all for the sake of health. Severe crackdown on all unsafe foods that are fake and added randomly.
As a representative industry of Healthy China and food safety, the upgrade of the dairy industry has become one of the focuses of the industry’s attention. Li Dong, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Dairy Industry Association, believes that the World Health Organization lists the per capita consumption level of dairy products as one of the main indicators of measuring the living standards of a country’s people, and the development of the dairy industry is an important measure to promote the Healthy China strategy.
Luo Yan, Vice President of the Low Temperature Business Unit and General Manager of the Fresh Milk Business Unit of Mengniu Group, talked about how Mengniu produces healthy yogurt and fresh milk products. He believes that ten years ago, consumers’ concept of health food was very vague, but now there have been many changes, and they will choose and purchase products for their families with targeted needs.
It is worth noting that from the perspective of the entire industry, compared with the international advanced level, the development of China’s health food industry still has a long way to go. Zhang Jiukui, part-time vice president of the China Light Industry Federation and chairman of the China Bakery Products Sugar Confectionery Industry Association, believes that the challenges and opportunities coexist in China’s health food industry and require all parties to work together to promote the transformation and upgrading of the food industry. (Source: Financial New Media)
Sign Up to Receive China Updates Weekly Newsletter for FREE, HERE
Visit HPA-China’s Information Hub, HERE