Press Releases
"Salt/Sugar" Label Scheme for Prepackaged Food Products launched (with photos)
The Government and the Committee on Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food (CRSS) launched the "Salt/Sugar" Label Scheme for Prepackaged Food Products today (October 20).
Officiating at the Food Safety Day 2017 cum Launching Ceremony for the "Salt/Sugar" Label Scheme for Prepackaged Food Products organised by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the CRSS Chairman, Mr Bernard Chan, said that the purpose of the Scheme is to assist consumers to easily identify low-salt and low-sugar products.
He encouraged the trade to actively participate in the Scheme by displaying the "low salt", "no salt", "low sugar" and "no sugar" labels on prepackaged food products. He said he hoped that prepackaged food products with the labels would be available in the market soon.
Mr Chan said that a less-salt-and-sugar diet is a new dietary culture. He encouraged trade operators to provide more low-salt and low-sugar food products for the public.
The Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene, Miss Vivian Lau, said at the same event that the theme for this year's Food Safety Day is "Hong Kong's Action on Salt and Sugar Reduction: Read Labels, Choose Smartly". She expressed the hope that members of the public would select food with less salt and sugar by making reference to the labels.
The labels can be displayed on all prepackaged food products that are in compliance with the definitions of "low salt", "no salt", "low sugar" and "no sugar" under the Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) Regulations (Cap. 132W).
Available in Chinese, English and bilingual versions, as well as colour and black and white (see Annex 1), the labels are modelled on, with modification, the winning design of the Low-Salt and Low-Sugar Front-of-Pack Label Design Competition which was organised to promote the Scheme.
Trade operators are welcome to participate in the Scheme. The label designs and details of the Scheme have been uploaded to the dedicated webpage of the FEHD's Centre for Food Safety (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rdss/programme_Salt_Sugar_Label_Scheme.html).
The Scheme is jointly organised by the CRSS, the Food and Health Bureau and the CFS, with the support of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, GS1 Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Food Council, Coca-Cola China Limited, PARKnSHOP and Vitasoy International Holdings Ltd.
Meanwhile, to cultivate healthy eating habits, to raise students' awareness of making good use of nutrition labels and reduce dietary intake of salt and sugar, the CRSS, the Food and Health Bureau, the Education Bureau, the CFS and the Department of Health (DH) jointly organised the Smart Choices for Low-Salt and Low-Sugar Slogan Writing cum Poster Design Competition, with the support of the Committee on Home-School Co-operation. A total of 357 students from 75 schools submitted poster designs and the prize presentation ceremony was also held at the Food Safety Day 2017. The winners of the competitions are listed in Annex 2.
The CRSS will continue to promote the culture of less-salt-and-sugar diets with major stakeholders. The DH launched the Salt Reduction Scheme for School Lunches this school year, under which students in around 440 primary schools will be supplied with sodium-reduced lunches. A 13-episode radio programme entitled "Food Court", which is a collaboration between the CRSS and Radio Television Hong Kong, commenced on October 6 and is being broadcast every Friday to publicise the importance of a less-salt-and-sugar and balanced diet. This year, the CFS has drawn more food trade associations and food premises to participate in the Food Safety Charter and the "Reduce Salt, Sugar, Oil. We Do!" programme.
Officiating guests of the Food Safety Day 2017 cum Launching Ceremony for the "Salt/Sugar" Label Scheme for Prepackaged Food Products included the Permanent Secretary for Food and Health (Food), Mrs Cherry Tse; Miss Lau; the Controller of the CFS, Dr Y Y Ho; and the Chairpersons of the Working Groups under the CRSS, Professor Ronald Ma, Dr Terry Ting and Miss Sylvia Lam.
For more details on reduction of salt and sugar in food, please visit the Facebook page "Hong Kong's Action on Salt and Sugar Reduction": www.facebook.com/HongKongsActiononSaltandSugarsReduction/.
Ends/Sunday, November 5, 2017
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Annex 1: Designs for Salt/Sugar Label Scheme for Prepackaged Food Products