Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) (Amendment)
Regulation 2004
The Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling)
Regulations have been improved as part of the government's
ongoing efforts to enhance food safety for the protection
of public health. The Amendment Regulation was made with
reference to the recommendations of Codex Alimentarius
Commission (Codex), the international authority for setting
food related standards. Amendments made include:
(i) Declaration of
any of the eight types of substances which are known
to cause allergy in some individuals, if present , in
the list of ingredients of pre-packaged food. These
substances are: cereals containing gluten; crustacean
and crustacean products; eggs and egg products; fish
and fish products; peanuts, soybeans and their products;
milk and milk products (lactose included); tree nuts
and nut products; and sulphite in concentrations of
10 parts per million or more.
(ii) Listing of additives
used by the functional class and specific name or the
identification number under the International Numbering
System for Food Additives.
(iii) Where the marking
of the "best before" or "use by"
date is shown in Arabic numerals, the present restriction
on the marking sequence for the year, month and day
have been lifted to make it more flexible to the trade.
To make it clearer to consumers, the exact sequence
of the date has to be clearly declared in both Chinese
character and English lettering.
(iv) Drinks with an
alcoholic strength by volume of more than 1.2% but less
than 10% as determined under section 53 of the Dutiable
Commodities Ordinance (Cap. 109) are exempted from all
labelling requirements except for indication of durability.
Wines, liqueur wines, sparkling wines, aromatized wines,
fruit wines, sparkling fruit wines and other drinks
with an alcoholic strength by volume of 10% or more
remain to be exempt from all labelling requirements.
(v) Restrictions on
the inclusion of additives in condensed or evaporated
milk and butter have been relaxed.
The Amendment Regulation was first published
in the Gazette on 14 May 2004 as Legal Notice No. 85 of
2004 and tabled in the Legislative Council on 19 May 2004.
Subsequent amendments were made and passed by the Legislative
Council on 9 July 2004.
To allow the trade more time to adapt
to the changes brought forward by the Amendment Regulation,
a grace period of 36 months has been allowed as from 9
July 2004. Enforcement actions by the Administration on
the new provisions will be taken on and after 9 July 2007.
However, the relaxation of control over additives in condensed
or evaporated milk and butter took effect on 9 July 2004.
We are now preparing a set of guidelines
to assist the trade to comply with the Amendment Regulation.
In addition, we are embarking on preparing a voluntary
code of practice to solicit support from the liquor trade
to provide the following information:
(i) To print the name
of alcoholic drink in either Chinese or English or in
both languages on the label in order to facilitate local
consumers to refer to by such name if required.
(ii) To print the name
and full address of manufacturer/packer in either Chinese
or English or in both languages on the label, or to
provide the information by giving notification to this
department (in lieu of an indication on the label),
to facilitate source tracing in case the product is
implicated in any food incident.
You may browse the website at: http://www.legislation.gov.hk for details of the amended Food and Drugs (Composition
and Labelling) Regulation (Cap. 132W). For more details
about food related standards and International Numbering
System for Food Additives , please browse the following
website:
Last
revision date: 08-10-2007