New Nutrition Labelling Regulations

On 28 May 2008, Hong Kong’s Legislative Council passed a regulation relating to nutrition labelling of pre-packaged foods.  The regulation requires all pre-packaged food sold in Hong Kong to include on its label a nutritional panel containing information on energy plus seven nutrients: protein, carbohydrate, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium and sugars.  The panel must also include details for any other nutrients for which nutritional claims are made on the packaging or label.

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 nutritional claims.

While these changes take effect from 1 July 2010, they are already being adopted at the trade level.

As Hong Kong’s nutrition labelling regulation is unique, Australian suppliers may need to re-label their products to meet these new requirements. For information relating to the new regulation, guidance notes and food laws in Hong Kong, please visit the following links :

• Amendment Regulation
• Technical guidance notes to the Amendment Regulation
• Food Laws in Hong Kong