Press Releases
New requirements for nutrition labelling and nutrition claims
The Government will tomorrow (April 3) publish in the Gazette the Food and Drugs
(Composition and Labelling) (Amendment: Requirements for Nutrition Labelling and
Nutrition Claim) Regulation 2008. The new legislation aims to better assist
consumers to make healthy food choices, regulate misleading or deceptive labels
and claims, as well as encourage food manufacturers to apply sound nutrition
principles in the formulation of foods for the benefit of public health.
Highlighting the various changes under the amendment regulation, a spokesman for
the Food and Health Bureau said that to promote consumers' access to
information, a mandatory nutrition labelling scheme for prepackaged food would
be introduced in Hong Kong. This requires all prepackaged food to label energy
plus seven core nutrients - protein, carbohydrates, total fat, saturated fat,
trans fat, sodium and sugars - as well as any nutrient for which a claim is
made.
The "one plus seven" scheme is in line with the recommendation put forward by
the World Health Organisation to the Codex Committee on Food Labelling meeting
in April, 2007.
"Hong Kong imports about 60% of prepackaged food from overseas. The nutrition
labelling scheme is carefully formulated to balance the need to assist consumers
in making food choices, and the need to help them maintain a diversity in food
choices.
"To minimise the impact on food choices, the Administration has allowed ample
flexibility in the labelling format of nutrients, provided for exemption for
individual prepackaged food products with practical difficulty in observing the
requirements, and for food products with small sales volume. These measures seek
to facilitate compliance by the trade, " the spokesman said.
Subject to passage by the Legislative Council, the amendment regulation is
proposed to come into force on July 1, 2010, after a two-year grace period.
Recognising the importance of promoting the benefits to be derived from food
labels and educating people on how to read the nutrition information contained
in the labels, the Government has set up a special Task Force on Nutrition
Labelling Education comprising representatives from various professional
organisations, like the Hong Kong Medical Association, to co-ordinate public
education and promotion activities on nutrition labelling.
Education must come hand in hand with the new law to realise the full benefits
of the nutrition labelling scheme for consumers. The publicity programme will
include posters, pamphlets and other promotional activities to educate consumers
on how to read the food labels.
"Workshops are also planned to further assist the food trade in adapting to the
changes once the Amendment Regulation is passed by the Legislative Council," the
spokesman said.
The amendment regulation will be tabled in the Legislative Council on April 9.
Ends/Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:37
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