Press Releases
Public consultation on legislative proposals relating to formula products and foods intended for infants and young children launched today
The Food and Health Bureau (FHB) and the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) today
(November 20) launched a public consultation on the legislative proposals
relating to formula products and foods intended for infants and young
children under the age of 36 months. The consultation exercise will last for
two months until January 21 next year. Members of the public are invited to
express their views.
A spokesman for the FHB said, "The Government is committed to protecting the
health of infants and young children. Infants and young children must obtain
optimal nutrition from their diet to grow and stay healthy. The superiority
of breastfeeding in ensuring the physical and psychosocial health and
well-being of mother and child, in particular the long-term health of
infants, is widely recognised. Where breastfeeding is not feasible, infant
formula is the only processed foodstuff which wholly fulfils the nutritional
requirements of infants during the first months of life until the
introduction of appropriate complementary feeding. We must therefore ensure
that infant formula has the appropriate composition and is nutritionally
adequate. On the other hand, it is also important to provide nutrition
information on labels of foods intended for infants and young children to
assist parents in making informed food choices for their children."
At present, while the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap.
132) stipulates that all food for sale must be fit for human consumption,
there is no specific legal provision governing the requirements and
standards of nutritional composition for infant formulae.
As for nutrition labelling, under the existing Food and Drugs (Composition
and Labelling) Regulations (Cap. 132W), energy content and seven core
nutrients as well as claimed nutrients are required to be listed on the
affixed nutrition label. However, the requirement does not apply to formula
products and foods intended for infants and young children under the age of
36 months because the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) has established
different standards for these foods.
The spokesman said, "The finding of iodine deficiency in some infant
formulae earlier by the CFS underlines the need to regulate such formulae
urgently. To protect the health of infants and young children, we propose to
introduce legislation governing formula products and foods intended for
infants and young children under the age of 36 months."
The consultation document sets out the legislative proposals, which are
summarised as follows:
(a) Codex requirement on nutritional composition (i.e. energy and 33
nutrients as specified by Codex) for infant formula before complementary
feeding is introduced. In particular, the level of energy and each nutrient
must fall within the range specified by Codex;
(b) Nutrition labelling requirement for infant formula before complementary
feeding is introduced, by listing the energy and 33 nutrients which are
required to be present in infant formula as specified by Codex;
(c) Nutrition labelling requirement for follow-up formula intended for
infants and young children under the age of 36 months by listing the energy
and 25 nutrients as specified by Codex;
(d) Nutrition labelling requirement for foods intended for infants and young
children under the age of 36 months by listing the energy and nutrients
required for such foods as specified by Codex; and
(e) Commencement of the proposed legislation after a suitable grace period.
The consultation document sets out the relevant requirements for nutritional
composition and labelling. At the same time, it also invites views from the
public on whether sodium content in non-cereal-based foods for infants and
young children should be labelled.
Regarding regulation of claims, the spokesman said, "The Government has
already started to examine various regulatory options for claims and will
take into account international practices as well as the current situation
in Hong Kong in mapping out the way forward. Regulation of claims is complex
and controversial and there is still a lack of international consensus on
the issue at present. To avoid delay in the more urgent task of regulating
nutritional composition and nutrition labelling of formula products and
foods intended for infants and young children under the age of 36 months,
the Government has put forward legislative proposals on those areas first
and proposed to tackle the issue of regulating claims at a later stage in
the coming year."
He added, "When formulating these legislative proposals, we have adopted the
Codex principles, taking into account the international practices. This will
ensure that our legislative proposals are on par with the international
standards. We hope to collect views from the public and stakeholders in the
coming two months. The Government will take the views received into
consideration before finalising the proposed legislation."
The consultation document has been uploaded to the FHB website (www.fhb.gov.hk)
and the CFS website (www.cfs.gov.hk). It
can also be obtained from the following locations:
* Communication Resource Unit of the CFS, 8/F, Fa Yuen Street Municipal
Services Building, 123A Fa Yuen Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon;
* District Environmental Hygiene Offices of the Food and Environmental
Hygiene Department; and
* District Offices of the Home Affairs Department.
"Two public consultation forums will be held for members of the public to
express their views. In addition, the Government will arrange separate
briefings for relevant stakeholders," the spokesman said.
Details of the forums are as follows:
Date: December 13
Time: 2.30pm to 4.30pm
Venue: Leighton Hill Community Hall, G/F, 133 Wong Nai Chung Road, Happy
Valley, Hong Kong
Date: January 5
Time: 10am to noon
Venue: Hall, 2/F, Lai Chi Kok Government Offices, 19 Lai Wan Road, Lai Chi
Kok, Kowloon
Members of the public who are interested in attending may call 2381 6096
during office hours for seat reservation.
Written views and comments should be sent to the CFS of the Food and
Environmental Hygiene Department on or before January 21: by post to 43/F,
Queensway Government Offices, 66 Queensway, Hong Kong (Attn: Consultation on
formula products and foods for infants and young children); by fax to 2893
3547; or by email to
formulafoods_consultation@fehd.gov.hk. Enquiries can be made on 2867
5699.
Ends/Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:01
NNNN