China Releases Its First 'Food and Nutrition Policy Evaluation Report': A 47-Indicator Framework Mapping the National Policy Landscape

Recently, the Health Science Center of Peking University witnessed a significant milestone in China’s nutrition policy landscape—the official release of the nation’s first systematic *Report on Food and Nutrition Policy Evaluation*. Led by Professor Ma Guansheng from the School of Public Health at Peking University, this report not only fills the gap in China regarding systematic evaluation of food and nutrition policies but also provides a solid theoretical foundation and practical guidance for future policy optimization and adjustment. With its scientific framework, rigorous methodology, and comprehensive perspective, the report marks substantial progress in China’s capacity for scientifically evaluating food and nutrition policies.

Food and nutrition policies do not exist in isolation; they profoundly influence the dietary patterns and health status of China’s 1.4 billion citizens, as well as the sustainability of national public health burdens and economic development. From food composition standards to nutrition labeling regulations, and from marketing controls to price subsidy mechanisms, these seemingly disparate policy components collectively weave an “environmental web” designed to guide the population toward healthy eating behaviors. However, for a long time, assessments of the actual effectiveness of these policies have relied largely on fragmented data and localized observations, lacking a unified, systematic framework that is comparable with international standards.

The newly released Report directly addresses this core challenge. Drawing on the internationally established Food-EPI methodology, it constructs an evaluation framework comprising two major dimensions—“Infrastructure Support” and “Policy”—with a total of 47 specific indicators. This framework serves as a precise metric, conducting the first comprehensive “health check” of China’s current food and nutrition policies, thereby not only quantifying achievements but also accurately identifying shortcomings and weak links. By transcending the limitations of previous qualitative descriptions, it ushers policy discussions into a new stage of scientific decision-making grounded in evidence and enabling quantitative comparisons.

“The Food and Nutrition Policy Evaluation Report” presents, for the first time, a clear and objective “panoramic view” of China’s food and nutrition policies. This landscape reveals both encouraging highlights and clearly identifies gaps that urgently need to be addressed and areas that require strengthening.

It is reported that the assessment adopts the international Food-EPI (Food Environment Policy Index) methodology, dividing China’s food and nutrition policy evaluation into two major components: “Infrastructure Support” and “Policies,” comprising a total of 47 specific indicators.

The Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI) is a mainstream tool used internationally to assess food policy environments, and its introduction reflects China’s efforts to align its nutrition policy research with international standards.

“Infrastructure Support” focuses on the “soft environment” and “hard capabilities” of policy formulation, encompassing policy planning, organizational leadership, cross-sectoral collaboration, monitoring and evaluation systems, financial safeguards, and the implementation of “Health in All Policies” (HiAP). This component measures the government’s willingness, capacity, and coordination mechanisms to advance the nutrition agenda, serving as the foundational soil for effective policy development. In contrast, the “Policies” component directly targets specific measures that shape the food environment, including regulation and guidance across seven key areas: food composition, labeling, marketing, pricing, supply, sales, and trade and investment.

Zhang Na, Associate Researcher at the School of Public Health, Peking University, provided a detailed interpretation of the report’s findings, stating that, overall, China’s formulation and implementation of food and nutrition policies are at a “moderate level.”

Among these, the level of policy formulation and implementation in two domains—organizational leadership and monitoring and evaluation—was high, accounting for 33.3% of all domains. The level of policy formulation and implementation in four domains—overall coordination, resource support, support systems, and integrating health into all policies—was moderate, accounting for 66.6% of all domains. In the “Policy” section, the overall level of policy formulation and implementation was moderate. Specifically, the level of policy formulation and implementation in five domains—food labeling, food supply, food trade, food pricing, and food composition—was moderate, accounting for 71.4% of all domains; whereas the level in two domains—food sales and food marketing—was low, accounting for 28.6% of all domains.

This objective assessment not only acknowledges the achievements of past efforts—demonstrating that we are not starting from scratch and have already established a policy framework with a certain degree of functionality—but also clearly points out that there remains a significant gap between our current status and global “best practices,” indicating substantial room for comprehensive improvement.

Zhang Na also pointed out that while China has established a relatively comprehensive system for the organizational implementation and policy design of food nutrition policies, there is still room for improvement in policy coordination, local implementation, and changing public behavior. Scientific monitoring and evaluation will provide solid support for policy optimization and execution.

The assessment of the infrastructure support component indicates that the government has made significant progress in policy planning and organizational leadership, but there is still room for further optimization in cross-sectoral collaboration and resource allocation. The evaluation of the policy component shows that clear regulations are in place regarding food composition, labeling, marketing, pricing, and supply management; however, enforcement of certain standards and regulatory mechanisms need to be strengthened. The principle of health prioritization in the fields of trade and investment also provides potential directions for future policy adjustments.

The value of the Report lies not only in diagnosis, but more importantly in prescribing a “remedy” for treatment. Through a detailed assessment of 47 indicators, it points out specific directions for the optimization of future policies. Based on the findings of the Report, the future development of China’s food and nutrition policy should focus on the following strategic priorities.

The top priority in developing future food and nutrition policies is to break down interdepartmental barriers and establish a high-level coordination mechanism with clear responsibilities and efficient operations.

Meanwhile, it is essential to translate the concept of “Health in All Policies” into rigid institutional arrangements. For instance, a “Nutrition and Health Impact Assessment” system should be established, requiring that economic and social development plans, industrial policies, trade agreements, and other measures with potential significant impacts on residents’ dietary nutrition undergo professional assessment prior to implementation, ensuring they do not contradict health objectives.

Decisive and targeted measures must be taken to address the weaknesses in “food marketing” and “food sales” identified in the assessment.

Legislative Regulation of Unhealthy Food Marketing: Specialized laws and regulations should be formulated and implemented as soon as possible to strictly restrict advertisements for unhealthy foods targeted at children, particularly during television time slots with high child viewership, in the vicinity of primary and secondary schools, and on digital media platforms. Meanwhile, the content of all food advertisements should be regulated to eliminate exaggerated or misleading claims, ensuring that they convey scientifically accurate nutritional information.

Creating a Healthy Retail Environment: Leverage economic tools and incentives, such as taxation, subsidies, and recognition programs, to encourage and guide food retailers in optimizing their product mix, thereby increasing the proportion and visibility of healthy food options. For instance, the “Healthy Supermarket” initiative can be promoted within communities, granting certification or policy preferences to merchants that adhere to health-oriented standards in their fresh produce sections, shelf layouts, and promotional activities. Particularly in special settings such as schools and hospitals, mandatory healthy food sales standards should be implemented.

“The Report” itself represents a significant practice in strengthening monitoring and evaluation, an effort that must be institutionalized and made routine. It is essential to integrate nutrition and health data scattered across various departments and institutions, establishing a national “Big Data Platform for Food Nutrition and Health Monitoring” to enable real-time data sharing, dynamic analysis, and visual presentation. This monitoring system should not only track the nutritional and health status of the population but also closely monitor the implementation progress and effectiveness of various policies, thereby forming a complete closed loop of “policy formulation – implementation monitoring – impact assessment – dynamic optimization.”

The success of food and nutrition policies cannot be achieved by the government alone; it requires the establishment of a new paradigm of “social governance” featuring joint participation from the government, academia, industry, media, and the public.

In academia, it is essential to deepen policy research and provide cutting-edge scientific evidence and innovative solutions. The food industry should earnestly fulfill its social responsibilities by proactively upgrading product formulations (reducing salt, oil, and sugar), standardizing marketing practices, and offering more and clearer healthy choices. The media should strengthen the scientific dissemination of nutritional knowledge, monitor unhealthy products and behaviors, and foster a public opinion environment conducive to healthy eating. Meanwhile, the general public needs to continuously enhance their nutritional health literacy, learn to read food labels, discern marketing messages, and “vote” for healthy products with their purchasing power.