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The Food and Health Bureau (FHB) and the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) today (November 20) launched a public consultation on the legislative proposals relating to formula products and foods intended for infants and young children under the age of 36 months. The consultation exercise will last for two months until January 21 next year. Members of the public are invited to express their views.
A spokesman for the FHB said, "The Government is committed to protecting the health of infants and young children. Infants and young children must obtain optimal nutrition from their diet to grow and stay healthy. The superiority of breastfeeding in ensuring the physical and psychosocial health and well-being of mother and child, in particular the long-term health of infants, is widely recognised. Where breastfeeding is not feasible, infant formula is the only processed foodstuff which wholly fulfils the nutritional requirements of infants during the first months of life until the introduction of appropriate complementary feeding. We must therefore ensure that infant formula has the appropriate composition and is nutritionally adequate. On the other hand, it is also important to provide nutrition information on labels of foods intended for infants and young children to assist parents in making informed food choices for their children."
At present, while the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132) stipulates that all food for sale must be fit for human consumption, there is no specific legal provision governing the requirements and standards of nutritional composition for infant formulae.
As for nutrition labelling, under the existing Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) Regulations (Cap. 132W), energy content and seven core nutrients as well as claimed nutrients are required to be listed on the affixed nutrition label. However, the requirement does not apply to formula products and foods intended for infants and young children under the age of 36 months because the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) has established different standards for these foods.
The spokesman said, "The finding of iodine deficiency in some infant formulae earlier by the CFS underlines the need to regulate such formulae urgently. To protect the health of infants and young children, we propose to introduce legislation governing formula products and foods intended for infants and young children under the age of 36 months."
The consultation document sets out the legislative proposals, which are summarised as follows:
(a) Codex requirement on nutritional composition (i.e. energy and 33 nutrients as specified by Codex) for infant formula before complementary feeding is introduced. In particular, the level of energy and each nutrient must fall within the range specified by Codex;
(b) Nutrition labelling requirement for infant formula before complementary feeding is introduced, by listing the energy and 33 nutrients which are required to be present in infant formula as specified by Codex;
(c) Nutrition labelling requirement for follow-up formula intended for infants and young children under the age of 36 months by listing the energy and 25 nutrients as specified by Codex;
(d) Nutrition labelling requirement for foods intended for infants and young children under the age of 36 months by listing the energy and nutrients required for such foods as specified by Codex; and
(e) Commencement of the proposed legislation after a suitable grace period.
The consultation document sets out the relevant requirements for nutritional composition and labelling. At the same time, it also invites views from the public on whether sodium content in non-cereal-based foods for infants and young children should be labelled.
Regarding regulation of claims, the spokesman said, "The Government has already started to examine various regulatory options for claims and will take into account international practices as well as the current situation in Hong Kong in mapping out the way forward. Regulation of claims is complex and controversial and there is still a lack of international consensus on the issue at present. To avoid delay in the more urgent task of regulating nutritional composition and nutrition labelling of formula products and foods intended for infants and young children under the age of 36 months, the Government has put forward legislative proposals on those areas first and proposed to tackle the issue of regulating claims at a later stage in the coming year."
He added, "When formulating these legislative proposals, we have adopted the Codex principles, taking into account the international practices. This will ensure that our legislative proposals are on par with the international standards. We hope to collect views from the public and stakeholders in the coming two months. The Government will take the views received into consideration before finalising the proposed legislation."
The consultation document has been uploaded to the FHB website (www.fhb.gov.hk) and the CFS website (www.cfs.gov.hk). It can also be obtained from the following locations:
* Communication Resource Unit of the CFS, 8/F, Fa Yuen Street Municipal Services Building, 123A Fa Yuen Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon;
* District Environmental Hygiene Offices of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department; and
* District Offices of the Home Affairs Department.
"Two public consultation forums will be held for members of the public to express their views. In addition, the Government will arrange separate briefings for relevant stakeholders," the spokesman said.
Details of the forums are as follows:
Date: December 13
Time: 2.30pm to 4.30pm
Venue: Leighton Hill Community Hall, G/F, 133 Wong Nai Chung Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong
Date: January 5
Time: 10am to noon
Venue: Hall, 2/F, Lai Chi Kok Government Offices, 19 Lai Wan Road, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon
Members of the public who are interested in attending may call 2381 6096 during office hours for seat reservation.
Written views and comments should be sent to the CFS of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department on or before January 21: by post to 43/F, Queensway Government Offices, 66 Queensway, Hong Kong (Attn: Consultation on formula products and foods for infants and young children); by fax to 2893 3547; or by email to formulafoods_consultation@fehd.gov.hk. Enquiries can be made on 2867 5699.
Ends/Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:01
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