Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ20: Nutrition labelling
Following is a question by the Hon Frederick Fung and a written reply by the
Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung (in the absence of
the Secretary for Food and Health) in the Legislative Council today (May 23):
Question:
The legislation on nutrition labelling has come into force for nearly two years
since July 2010. Regarding the implementation of the legislation, will the
Government inform this Council:
(a) whether the authorities have recently conducted any survey to ascertain the
level of awareness of the public about nutrition labelling and the changes in
their attitude and behaviour towards choosing of food products; if they have, of
the results;
(b) given that since the beginning of this year, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS)
tested and discovered that the information on the nutrition labels of various
kind of food products is seriously inaccurate, how CFS made public such
incidents and whether press releases were issued; of the approach adopted by the
authorities to handle and act in response to non-compliant cases since the
implementation of the aforesaid legislation; of the change in the frequency of
conducting sample tests of food products to verify the information on nutrition
labels; the details of the non-compliant cases, including a list of food
products involved, the items on their labels which were inaccurate, as well as
the numbers of warning letters issued, requests for rectifying the
irregularities and prosecutions instituted, etc.; and
(c) whether the authorities have reviewed if the current approach in handling
non-compliant cases is too lenient, and whether the public are unable to know
clearly which food products' nutrition labels contain inaccurate information; if
so, of the review results; whether the authorities will step up enforcement and
prosecution efforts, and make public as soon as possible the list of food
products with inaccurate information on their nutrition labels to enable the
public to make informed choices; if they will not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Nutrition Labelling Scheme (the Scheme) for pre-packaged food products aims
to: (a) assist consumers in making informed food choices; (b) encourage food
manufacturers to apply sound nutrition principles in the formulation of food
products; and (c) regulate misleading or deceptive labels and claims. The Scheme
covers nutrition labelling and nutrition claims (which includes nutrient content
claim , nutrient comparative claim and nutrient function claim).
The Scheme has come into force since July 1, 2010. To facilitate its
implementation, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) has been carrying out a variety
of publicity and education programmes to enhance public understanding of the
Scheme. Following the three-year Publicity and Education Campaign which ended in
June 2011, CFS has launched a two-year enhancement programme on nutrition
labelling since July 2011 to sustain the efforts in promoting the use of the
nutrition information on labels by consumers for healthier food choices.
In fact, according to a survey conducted by the Bauhinia Foundation Research
Centre in June 2011 which interviewed over 1 000 citizens, nearly 80% agreed
that the implementation of the Scheme had assisted them in making healthier food
choices. Over half of them considered that the Scheme had enhanced their
confidence in the nutrient content and nutrition claims on pre-packaged food
products.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) CFS has commissioned an independent consultant to conduct a survey to find
out the public's knowledge, attitude and practice regarding nutrition labelling.
This survey is modelled on a similar one conducted by CFS in 2008 and a
comparison will be made between the findings of the two surveys. This survey is
expected to be completed by the end of this year.
(b) Since the commencement of the Scheme on July 1, 2010, CFS has checked (as at
May 4, 2012) the nutrition labels of 19 680 pre-packaged food products, with 190
found to be non-compliant with the requirements of the Scheme. The overall
compliance rate is 99.03%.
Of the 190 non-compliant food products, 122 were identified by visual checking
on labels for not complying with the statutory "1+7" labelling requirements and
the remaining 68 by chemical analysis on the inaccuracy of the nutrition labels
and nutrition claims. Details are at the Annex. The cases involved different
categories of food, including beverage, snack, soya bean sauce, milk product,
meat product, cereal and grain product, etc.
Out of the 190 non-compliant cases, nutrition labels were rectified in 108
cases, products in 77 cases were removed from shelves, and five cases are being
followed up. CFS has issued a total of 93 warning letters regarding the
irregularities. If the food trader concerned fails to take any actions to comply
with the requirements of the Scheme upon the expiry date stated in the warning
letter, CFS will initiate prosecution. Most of the traders involved in
non-compliant cases have been co-operative. They have either stopped selling the
product concerned or rectified the nutrition label according to the statutory
requirements. There is no need for CFS to initiate any prosecution so far.
The surveillance results of CFS on pre-packaged food products since the
commencement of the Scheme on July 1, 2010 with details of the non-compliant
cases have been reported at the meetings of the Legislative Council Panel on
Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene on July 12, 2011 and May 8, 2012.
(c) In the first year of implementing the Scheme, CFS adopted a flexible
approach in handling cases of irregularities. Upon detection of irregularities,
such as incomplete nutrition label and discrepancy between the stated nutrient
content on the nutrition label and test result, CFS would first issue a letter
to the retailer/manufacturer/importer concerned requesting an explanation within
21 days. If the explanation was not accepted by CFS, a warning letter would be
issued requiring actions to comply with the Scheme within 60 days. For traders
who failed to do so, CFS would initiate prosecution.
Taking into account the operational experience gained during the first year of
the Scheme, CFS has tightened up its enforcement strategy since July 1, 2011.
Where irregularities such as incomplete nutrition label are identified, CFS will
issue a warning letter to the retailer/manufacturer/importer concerned requiring
actions to rectify the irregularities and comply with the Scheme within 60 days.
For discrepancy between the actual nutrient content based on test result and the
stated value on the nutrition label, CFS will issue a letter to the retailer/
manufacturer/ importer concerned requesting an explanation within 21 days. If
the explanation is not accepted by CFS, a warning letter requiring an alteration
of labels to comply with the Scheme within 39 days will then be issued. In case
the non-compliant food item remains on sale, CFS will initiate prosecution.
The Government has implemented the Scheme mainly to facilitate members of the
public to make informed choices when purchasing food. No food safety risks are
involved even if there are discrepancies between the declared values on
nutrition labels and test results. From March 2012 onwards, a monthly report is
published in the last week of the month on the CFS website, summarising
nutrition labelling compliance testing results of the previous month, including
the number of food samples tested, the number of non-compliant samples and their
names, and details of the food samples with discrepancies between their declared
nutrient values and test results. Relevant information can be found in the
website (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/whatsnew/whatsnew_act/List_of_Samples_with_Discrepancy_for_NL.html).
Ends/Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:04
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