3pm SGT - Opportunity Asia and Middle East: Regulations and Market Access Decoded 

Introduction from our Chair of the Digital Summit, Gary Scattergood, Editor-in-Chief, NutraIngredients-Asia

Day three of the Probiota Asia digital summit begins with a presentation from Wai Mun Poon, Founder of Wong SJ Asia

Wai Mun will present on: ASEAN harmonisation and its impact on probiotics and beyond  
The agreement on ASEAN harmonised regulatory requirements for health supplements is targeted to be signed at the end of 2021 / early 2022. Each ASEAN member state will then deposit instruments of rectification/notification to the ASEAN Secretariat before full implementation. This is expected to take another four or five years. Despite the long process, companies should already start to prepare to comply to these harmonised regulatory requirements.

Key Takeaways:

  • Key insights and the latest development of the harmonisation process
  • The major harmonised technical requirements relevant to the health supplements products containing probiotic ingredients
  • Practical tips to get ahead with compliance

We continue this session with a presentation by Dr. Sun-Ho Frank Kim, Founder of Seah Bio Solutions

Frank will present on: The regulation landscape and market trends in South Korea’s microbiome industry
In Korea, the growth of the probiotics market is particularly remarkable. According to the Korea Health Supplements Association (KHSA), the probiotics market in 2020 was estimated at US$770m, up 19.4% from the previous year and compared to US$170m in 2016. Meanwhile, two out of four domestic listed companies specialising in microbiome research were acquired on the same day. The 'ransom' of microbiome companies is rising as it is believed that expansion into the food sector is possible. Accordingly, the MFDS, the Government Authority, has also recently launched the 'Health functional food probiotic safety evaluation guide (Citizen's Guide)’, which has led to wider testing for probiotic products distributed and imported in Korea.

Key Takeaways:

  • The current regulatory landscape in Korea
  • The latest market developments across the Korean market in relation to supplements
  • The sector’s future growth prospects

Next continue this session with a presentation by Cathy Yu, General Manager of Food Division / Senior Food Regulatory Consultant at CIRS on: The latest regulatory updates on probiotics and prebiotics in China.
As the biggest player in Asia Pacific’s probiotics market, China has attracted a large number of international businesses. In recent years, probiotic dietary supplements have become increasingly popular among Chinese consumers, in either traditional sales channels or via e-commerce. However, the regulatory framework for probiotics, especially for probiotic dietary supplements, can be complicated and quickly change in China. Cathy will introduce the latest regulation requirements, and the challenges and opportunities for probiotic market growth from a regulatory perspective.

Key Takeaways:

  • How China defines probiotics and prebiotics in relation to its positive list
  • What product are popular in China in terms of probiotic functional foods
  • The regulatory requirements for probiotic functional foods when entering the Chinese market and the latest regulatory updates for probiotic dietary supplements

The final presentation of this session is by Dr Majed M Abukhader , Associate Professor of Nutritional and Clinical Biochemistry, College of Pharmacy at  National University of Science and Technology, Muscat - Oman on: Probiotics in the Middle East .
In the Middle East, the probiotic market is relatively small, which might be related to the lack of probiotics production and manufacturing in the region. Most of the probiotic products in the Middle East region which are sold as OTC preparations are manufactured in Europe and North America. This could provide an opportunity for the development of such products in the region by encouraging local investments and utilisation by both health care providers and patients. Further research can be conducted to explore probiotic products profile in the Middle East region as well as investigating health care providers, patients and medical sciences students’ acceptance and attitude towards probiotics.

Key Takeaways:

  • Current state of the market in Oman, UAE, Iraq and Jordan
  • How the small probiotics market in the Middle East offers room for growth and investment
  • Why exploring probiotic acceptance and perception among health care providers and medical sciences students will help better understand the probiotics market profile and development opportunities

Day 2 will close with a final panel discussion with live Q&A chaired by Gary Scattergood on Opportunity Asia and Middle East: Regulations and Market Access Decoded .

Panellists:

5pm SGT - Networking - the opportunity to chat to other delegates, schedule one-on-one meetings, visit our sponsor hubs.

5:15pm SGT - The Lumina Intelligence Workshop

Market Analysis Workshop with a Focus on Probiotic Supplements by Ewa Hudson, Director of Insights, Lumina Intelligence

Probiotics continue to shine in the first half of 2021 in the online world. The marketplace sees numerous product launches, geographical expansion of the existing brands and plenty of consumer activity. Lumina adds over 1,200 new products to its coverage as such. Growth rate of reviews in the first half of 2021 follows the exponential curve observed in 2020, driven by reviews coming from new products or sales in new territories. Key area of probiotic innovation lies within novel health applications, with Lumina capturing over 45 new health benefits in the system to hit 80 in total. The fastest growing applications, if from a small base, include hair, fertility and menopause. Innovation is fuelled by increasing market presence of non-classic probiotic species and their ferments, yeast and prebiotics. As such Lumina expands its coverage of ingredients to reach over 60 types of species and prebiotics, and over 1,300 identified strains combinations attributed to 70 suppliers. Join the Lumina workshop where she will share key findings related to the Asian market using a series of interactive dashboards.