Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hoi-yan and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (October 28):
      
Question:
 
     Since the 2017-2018 school year, the Department of Health (DH) has implemented the Salt Reduction Scheme for School Lunches, under which lunch suppliers voluntarily provide DH with information such as the number of sodium-reduced meal choices. However, it is learnt that some lunch suppliers have not submitted such information for several consecutive months. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
      
(1) of the current number of lunch suppliers participating in the Scheme, the number of primary schools across the territory to which they provide lunches, and the respective percentages of such schools in the total number of primary schools in the territory; the total number of orders of sodium-reduced meal choices provided by lunch suppliers, the number of students who ordered these meal choices and their respective proportions in the total number of meal orders and the total number of students, in each of the past three school years;
 
(2) of the five lunch suppliers that pledged the highest percentages of sodium-reduced meal choices among all meal choices available every month and the relevant percentages over the past three school years; the numbers of orders of sodium-reduced meal choices received by such lunch suppliers and their respective proportions in the total number of meal orders in each of the past three school years;
 
(3) of the total number of lunch suppliers that have participated in the Scheme since its launch, and among them, the respective numbers of those that (i) have withdrawn from the Scheme, and (ii) have been removed from the Scheme by DH and the reasons for their removal;
 
(4) of the number of lunch suppliers that failed to submit the relevant information to DH on time over the past three school years, and the longest period in months for which such information was not submitted; whether DH has taken follow-up actions; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(5) of the number of times DH conducted sample tests on the sodium level of school children's lunches in each of the past three school years; among such tests, the respective numbers of cases in which the findings were inconsistent with the information submitted by the lunch suppliers or with the pledged rate of reduction in sodium level; whether DH has taken follow-up actions; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
 
(6) given that lunch suppliers are required to report to DH complaints relating to sodium-reduced meal choices, of the total number of complaints received by DH over the past three school years, together with a breakdown by complaint category (including food hygiene, taste and nutrition); the three lunch suppliers that received the largest number of complaints, and the follow-up actions taken by DH?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     In response to the question raised by the Hon Chan Hoi-yan, and after consulting the Department of Health (DH), the consolidated reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
      
     Excessive intake of sodium could increase the risk of hypertension, which is a major cause of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. The World Health Organization stated that decreasing dietary intake of salt to five grams per day in adults would reduce the risk of stroke by 23 per cent and that of cardiovascular diseases by 17 per cent. According to the results of the DH's Population Health Survey 2020-22, the average daily salt intake of persons aged 15 to 84 in Hong Kong was 8.4 grams, exceeding the daily limit as recommended by the World Health Organization by nearly 70 per cent. Helping students develop eating habits with less salt from an early age is particularly important for their long-term health, and builds a solid foundation for their future health.
 
     In view of the above, with the full support of the Education Bureau, schools and partners from various sectors, the DH launched the Salt Reduction Scheme for School Lunches under the EatSmart@school.hk Campaign in the 2017/18 school year, encouraging lunch suppliers to voluntarily implement measures to reduce salt in lunches. 
      
     The purpose of the Scheme is to enable students to gradually adapt to foods with less salt, while giving suppliers sufficient time to make adjustments in terms of their recipes, food production procedures, staff training and quality control, so as to progressively lower the sodium level of lunch boxes for students. 
      
     The DH encourages schools to give priority to suppliers that have joined the Scheme in the tendering process. In the 2026/27 school year, a total of 15 lunch suppliers participated in the Scheme, providing services to 465 primary schools across Hong Kong (covering nearly 80 per cent of all primary schools in Hong Kong). The remaining primary schools not covered have separate arrangements mainly due to reasons such as the schools having their own canteens and thus not requiring the purchase of lunch boxes, logistical difficulties in delivery as the schools are located in remote areas, or parents' views. A cumulative total of seven suppliers have withdrawn from the Scheme. According to the DH's understanding, the reasons include commercial considerations, business restructuring or no longer providing school lunch services, and there has been no case of a supplier being removed by the DH.
      
     The Scheme recommends that participating suppliers progressively improve their recipes, reducing the sodium content by at least five per cent each year. The DH provides assistance to suppliers, including providing training for their staff on adjusting ingredients and improving production processes, as well as other nutritional guidelines on lunches, and providing professional advice on designing recipes for sodium-reduced meal options. The DH requires suppliers participating in the Scheme to provide the following information on a monthly basis:
 

1. school menus, recipes of sodium-reduced meal options and the corresponding reduction in sodium content; and
2. the pledged percentage of sodium-reduced meal options supplied to schools among all available meal options.

 
     Regarding the reduction in sodium content, the DH mainly adopts a recipe review mechanism to assess the menus, recipes and relevant nutritional information submitted by the suppliers, so as to continuously monitor their sodium-reduction progress. In the past three school years, the sodium content of around 60 to 70 per cent of the sodium-reduced meal options each year met the recommended level for the corresponding school year.
      
     As for the percentage of sodium-reduced meal options among all available meal options, the DH encourages suppliers participating in the Scheme to increase the percentage stated in their individual commitments by 20 per cent each year, so as to gradually reach the target of 80 per cent or above. In the past three school years, the top five suppliers that provided the highest proportion of sodium-reduced meal options had a pledged monthly percentage of about 60 to 85 per cent.
 
     The relevant information, including the names of the suppliers and the pledged percentages, has been uploaded to the thematic webpage of the EatSmart@school.hk Campaign
 (school.eatsmart.gov.hk/en/content_salt.aspx?id=6202) in the form of monthly online reports for public reference.
 
     The DH issues monthly reminders by email and/or phone to suppliers participating in the Scheme on a voluntary basis, reminding them to submit the various information on time, so as to facilitate the DH in understanding the progress towards the target of gradually lowering the sodium content of lunch boxes. Taking into account that redesigning recipes as well as adjusting formulations and cooking methods require the input of additional resources, the DH actively maintains close communication with suppliers participating in the Scheme, provides them advice and co-ordination, and, in particular, adopts flexible arrangements regarding the deadline for providing information for suppliers that have newly joined the Scheme, so as to assist them in catching up with the progress in phases and meeting the targets.
      
     In the past three school years, the majority of suppliers participating in the Scheme submitted the documents on time as tabulated as follows:  
 

School year	Number of suppliers participating in the Scheme	Number of suppliers that submitted the documents on time
2023/24	12	11
2024/25	14	13
2025/26	14	12

 
     Only one to two suppliers each school year failed to submit the documents in time due to internal administrative circumstances such as staff changes, with the longest overdue record being two months. After DH's enquiries and follow-up, the suppliers concerned subsequently submitted the relevant information.
      
     In the past three school years, the DH has not received any direct complaint from schools or parents about the sodium-reduced lunch options of individual suppliers. However, some suppliers reflected to the DH that some parents indicated that students found the school lunches too bland and unable to fully cater to their preferences, and some parents even considered that catering to students' preferences was more important than health. The DH encourages suppliers to voluntarily submit figures on complaints, order numbers or numbers of students making orders regarding sodium-reduced meal options, but suppliers may not provide the relevant information due to commercial considerations. The DH has therefore not maintained the relevant data.
      
     The DH will continue to encourage suppliers to uphold the principle of healthy cooking, gradually reduce the sodium content of lunches for students, as well as make good use of natural spices and diverse ingredients to enhance the colour, aroma and taste of lunches while achieving the sodium-reduction targets of the Scheme as soon as possible; and will also monitor the progress of suppliers. At the same time, the DH will continue to strengthen education for schools and parents, working together with them to create an eating environment conducive to the healthy growth of students both at school and outside school.

Ends/Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00

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