ABSTRACT
The emergence of the health food industry can in part be explained by economic growth. The herbal medicine theory has one assertion that the food and the medicine are of the same origin. This means that some foods have therapeutic functions and can be used as drugs. Because of particular claimed curing functionalities, health food products should be classified as medicine and be put under supervision of the State Drug Administration (SDA). But in practice the majority of these products are marketed under the food category. The issues concerning the health food raised wide publicity in China during the past few years because of the vast number of consumers who were directly affected. There are three interest groups concerned in this matter: the marketers who market the health food so heavily; the general public who consumes the products in the belief that they will enhance health; and the regulative authorities who should protect the interest of the people.
