Shanghai: There is a shortage of tens of thousands of nutritionists.

The Shanghai Nutrition Society recently launched Shanghai’s first nutrition and meal preparation job qualification training course, and the registration was unexpectedly popular. There is a serious shortage of professional nutritionists in Shanghai, and there are almost zero "public nutrition" experts for the public in the country. The Food Department of the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau's Health Supervision Institute stated that according to current regulations, manufacturers of student nutritional lunch boxes must have a nutritionist, but most of these nutritionists responsible for preparing recipes are "part-time" from hospital nutritionists. It is reported that a foreign-funded catering company in Shanghai has been equipped with a full-time nutritionist. Since relevant departments recommend that all schools that provide "group meals" should have balanced meals, some schools with better conditions are currently hiring retired nutritionists to "make use of their remaining energy."

According to the Shanghai Clinical Nutrition Quality Control Center, there are currently only more than 300 nutritionists at all levels in Shanghai who have passed the nutrition professional and technical qualification examination, and the vast majority of them are distributed in hospitals and other institutions. Serving special populations, few are available to the general public. Chen Xiafei, director of the center, said: The focus of foreign nutritionists’ work is in the field of public nutrition, of which medical nutrition is only one component.

China lacks nutritionists

China still does not have laws and regulations regarding nutritionists, which is considered by industry insiders to be the main factor hindering the development of the nutritionist industry

Food is plentiful, life is getting better, and the body is slowly gaining weight. Doctors suggest that it is time to pay attention to reasonable diet and nutrition. But at this time, Chinese people discovered that it is very difficult to find a nutritionist.

According to statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Health, there are currently only nearly 4,000 nutritionists in China. Except for some larger hospitals, there are no nutritionists at all, such as canteens for workers in factories and mines, as well as restaurants in schools and government agencies.

The Chinese Nutrition Society conducted a survey in 2002. The results showed that among the 403 hospitals surveyed across the country, only 47% had nutrition departments, and more than half of the hospitals did not have nutrition departments. The provision of nutritionists is even less likely to be discussed.