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On 28 May 2008, Hong Kong’s Legislative Council passed a regulation relating to nutrition labeling of pre-packaged foods. Under the Amendment Regulation on Nutrition Labeling, with effect from 1 July 2010, all general prepackaged foods are mandated to carry a nutrition label, unless the food product is an exempt prepackaged food under Schedule 6 of the Amendment Regulation. However, the Amendment Regulation, is not applicable to formula and food intended to be consumed principally by children under the age of 36 months, and other food for special dietary uses.
The nutrition label (or nutrition information panel) must contain information on energy plus seven core nutrients:
- protein
- carbohydrates
- total fat
- saturated fatty acids
- trans fatty acids
- sodium
- sugars
In addition, the amounts of any claimed nutrients (ie. nutrient content, comparative or function claims) must be listed. If a nutrition claim related to any type of fat is made, the nutrition label should also include the amount of cholesterol.
A small volume exemption may be applied for products with a total sales volume in Hong Kong of less than 30,000 units a year, provided the products do not make any nutrition claims.
While these changes will be enforced from 1 July 2010, they are already being adopted at the trade level. Major retail chains have indicated that they are working towards full compliance by 1 January 2010 at the latest and have requested Hong Kong importers and distributors to provide all related information, as above, as soon as possible.
The new Hong Kong requirements are unique and require more information than currently necessary in Australia eg, labeling of trans fatty acids, however these new regulations will be mandatory in Hong Kong. This will affect all manufacturers of prepackaged foods that export to Hong Kong (except those falling within the criteria of exemptions) and will require testing and labeling of nutrients (or provision of such results for re-labelling by your Hong Kong importer or distributor) to meet the Amendment Regulation, including those nutrients for which claims are made. You should work with your Hong Kong importer or distributor to meet these requirements.
Please note that under Section 5 of the Amendment Regulation, non-compliance would result in an offence which is liable to a fine and imprisonment.
For a listing of accredited laboratories in Australia (as advised by the Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department / Centre for Food Safety), please visit the National Association of Testing Authorities' website www.nata.asn.au. For biological testing, please visit:
www.nata.asn.au/index.cfm?objectid=91A6633A-65B1-96AB-7EAF2879B94B08C3&parentCategory=Biological%20Testing/Foods/fats%20and%20oils,%20microbiological&categoryLevel=4
For information relating to the Amendment Regulation for Nutrition Labeling and food laws in Hong Kong, please visit the following links:
The cost of labels and the cost of food testing - whether for nutritional data or compliance, cannot be claimed under the Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme. However, other promotional costs such as travel, literature, websites, advertising and trade shows are covered under the scheme and full details of the types of expenditure that can be claimed can be found on the Austrade website at www.austrade.gov.au
For more information about compliance with the Amendment Regulation, please contact your Hong Kong importer/distributor or for technical advice, please contact the Hong Kong Government's Food & Environmental Hygiene Department's Helpdesk on +852 2381 6096 or email your enquiry to enquiries@fehd.gov.hk.
Should you require further assistance, please contact Austrade Hong Kong on +852 2588 5300 or hong_kong@austrade.gov.au |