The 2026 Functional Food Wellness Summit (FFWS 2026) was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from January 20th to 21st. As an annual benchmark event and pivotal platform for the functional food industry across the Asia-Pacific region and globally, this year's summit brought together over 150 industry leaders from more than 20 countries and regions for in-depth discussions on topics such as technological innovation. The summit also presented the Functional Food Wellness Industry Awards, recognizing products and companies with outstanding innovation and significant market influence. Demonstrating exceptional product innovation and scientific research capabilities, Feihe clinched an impressive 10 awards, spanning areas including infant nutrition, functional ingredients, and special dietary foods, making it one of the enterprises with the highest number of awards at this summit in China and the broader Asia-Pacific region.
By securing 10 international awards, Feihe is comprehensively evolving into a leader in all-age nutrition. Within the international functional food sphere, the Functional Food Wellness Summit serves as a key indicator of industry trends. Feihe's success at this event not only represents high recognition from the international market for the quality and innovative capabilities of its full-lifecycle functional nutrition products but also signifies its complete transformation from a leader in infant formula to a pioneer in all-age nutrition, continuously contributing a "Chinese solution" towards smarter, healthier, and longer human lives.
During the summit's forum, Mr. Zhang Xuguang, Vice President of Feihe and Dean of its Research Institute, participated in an exclusive interview, where he emphasized Feihe's approach of "using technology as a blade to break boundaries and unlock a new era of full-lifecycle nutrition." He noted that the nutritional functional food industry currently faces multiple opportunities, and Feihe is enhancing the synergistic efficiency of "capturing consumer demand, achieving technological breakthroughs, and facilitating the transformation of results" by building an "integrated industry-academia-research ecosystem led by market insights." While consolidating its leading position in infant product R&D and breast milk research, Feihe is also innovating to address the health needs of different age groups and specific scenarios, focusing on the R&D and functional exploration of fresh components in dairy ingredients, and advancing clinical research to cover multi-level technological innovations from basic nutrition to functional and specialized nutrition, aligning with its full-lifecycle functional food product matrix strategy.
Among the award-winning products, Feihe's Jicui and Qicui infant formula milks won the "Breast Milk Affinity Formula Technology Innovation Award," the "Infant Clinical Evidence Early Life Nutrition Excellence Award," and the "Fresh Nutrition Ingredient Formula Technology Innovation Award," with their formulas deeply aligned with infant physiological needs, providing a scientific solution for early life nutrition; Feihe's Platinum Formula Rice Cereal received the "Infant Fresh Formula Rice Cereal Excellence Award," establishing a "more nutritious, fresher" standard for complementary foods; Feihe's Lactoferrin Nutrition Powder was awarded the "Children's Active Immune Protein Excellent Product Award," offering reliable nutritional support for boosting children's immunity; Feihe's Aiben Small Molecular Milk Protein Special Dietary Powder series won the "Musculoskeletal Health Innovation Award," utilizing small molecular technology to enhance nutrient absorption efficiency and precisely match the nutritional needs of specific populations.
Furthermore, Feihe's Liquid Milk Protein, recognized for its innovative fresh ingredient technology, received the "Fresh Milk Protein Ingredient Technology Innovation Award," making Feihe the only company to win an award for ingredient innovation, highlighting its all-chain innovation capabilities from core ingredients to finished products; two products launched by Feihe in the Southeast Asian market, AceKid Plus Genugro Growing-up Formula and AceKid Optigrow Powdered Milk Drink, won the "Breast Milk Affinity Formula Technology Innovation Award" and the "Fresh Nutrition Ingredient Formula Technology Innovation Award" respectively, showcasing the technological innovation strength of Feihe's international product portfolio.
"Transitioning from the infant formula sector to a full-age functional nutrition strategy, Feihe possesses unique advantages spanning its technology R&D system, independent ingredient production, and past experience, which also reflects the company's responsibility and commitment," stated Mr. Zhang Xuguang. He indicated that receiving recognition through 10 awards at this summit marks the initial success of Feihe's strategic shift from infant formula to full-lifecycle nutrition and signifies deep acknowledgment from international peers.
Through deep cultivation of technological innovation in functional nutrition, Feihe has forged a globally "fresh-leading" capability for Chinese dairy enterprises. During the summit, Dr. Zhang Yang, a Senior Researcher at Feihe, delivered a thematic report titled "Innovation Strategies for Full-Lifecycle Functional Nutrition," showcasing Feihe's research achievements and strategic layout in the full-lifecycle nutrition domain. Simultaneously, the functional nutrition products exhibited by Feihe garnered not only full recognition from the summit organizers but also significant attention from attending experts, international media, and users. At Feihe's booth, a large number of visitors stopped to learn and inquire, demonstrating the continuously rising recognition of the Chinese brand in the international market.
Behind the success of winning international awards lies Feihe's persistent dedication to R&D innovation over more than 60 years and the deep implementation of its full-lifecycle nutrition strategy. Feihe's long-term commitment across industrial chain layout, technological innovation, process R&D, and quality management has forged its leading technological capabilities and exceptional product quality, injecting Chinese strength into the high-quality development of the global functional food industry. Feihe's success in winning multiple "fresh" technology awards is directly attributable to its continuous breakthroughs in the field of fresh nutrition. Over the past two decades, as a leading enterprise in China's dairy industry, Feihe has spearheaded three "fresh revolutions" in the sector.
In 2006, Feihe pioneered the "Agriculture-Animals-Work" integrated full industrial chain within the industry, achieving 100% self-controlled farms, 100% owned pastures and dairy cows, and 100% proprietary raw milk supply, while establishing a "2-hour ecosystem" to build an autonomous, safe, and reliable supply system. From 2018 to 2022, Feihe took the lead in establishing a fresh technology standard system for "one-step powdering from fresh raw milk," driving technological upgrades in the infant formula industry through quantifiable systematic standards. In 2025, Feihe further achieved independent production capacity for core protein ingredients like whey protein, safeguarding the fresh nutrition of its products from the source. Recently, Feihe launched the industry's first fresh ingredient traceability system, initially applied to its new Jicui and Qicui products.
This system extends information depth upstream to the ingredient production stage within the supply chain for the first time; consumers can scan the code on the bottom of the new product cans to view production dates, processes, and authoritative test reports for fresh self-produced ingredients like whey protein, lactoferrin, and casein phosphopeptides, providing a model of "full-chain transparency" for the food industry. This system will eventually be applied to more Feihe products, offering consumers a safe and fresh product experience.
Currently, Feihe's fresh milk protein nutrition technology and full industrial chain advantages have been comprehensively applied across its full-lifecycle functional nutrition product portfolio. From infant formula meeting early life needs, to lactoferrin nutrition powder specially designed for children, and even the "small molecular milk protein special dietary powder" developed for the health of middle-aged and elderly individuals, Feihe has constructed a scientific nutritional product system covering the entire human lifecycle. As the global functional food industry enters a new phase of development, Feihe will continue to deepen its focus on the full-lifecycle functional nutrition field, using its full industrial chain safety assurance as a foundation and driving progress through scientific R&D and product innovation, thereby promoting the high-quality development of China's functional food industry and conveying the strength and warmth of the Chinese functional nutrition brand to the world.
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