News and Activities

Nutrition Labeling and Nutrition Claim Regulation "The Food and Drugs (Composition and Labeling) (Amendment: Requirements for Nutrition Labeling and Nutrition Claims) Regulation 2008" has been passed by the Legislative Council on 28 May 2008 requiring pre-packaged food to label the energy value and 7 other nutrient amounts. The aforesaid shall come into operation on 1 July 2010. The regulation has allowed a number of exemptions, for instance, products of annual sales of not exceeding 30,000 unit or products total package surface area of less than 100... Details

Response to Healthcare Reform Consultation Document Food and Health Bureau has published a consultation document on Healthcare Reform in March 2008 and welcome public opinions on the Document. Being a health promotion organization, the Hong Kong Health Food Association has submitted a letter to The Food and Health Bureau on 13 June 2008 expressing the our views on the Reform. The letter has put forward several comments. Preventive care model in the consultation paper is lopsided toward the medical profession emphasizing on the establishment of family... Details

Guidance Notes on Classification of Products as “Pharmaceutical Products” under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Cap. 138): After two years of communication and discussion with the Pharmaceutical Services of Department of Health, the Product Classification Guidance Notes have been finalized and became effective July 2008. The Guidance Notes are particularly helpful in improving the knowledge of industry in product and provide exemption on certain ingredients from product registration, e.g. Biotin, amino acids, chondroitin, Coenzyme Q10, fish oil, lactobacillus, bioflavonoids, brewer’s yeast and more, provided the products containing these exempted ingredients do not make any medical claims. The... Details

Maximum Concentration of Melamine Through media reports that milk products in China have been adulterated by Melamine, which has caused many children died from liver damage. Worry and concern began to brew among the public. To claim down the tension, the Centre for Food Safety has taken a decisive action in publishing in the Government Gazette in September 2008 to announce that Melamine would be under the control of the “Harmful Substances in Food Regulations” (Chapter 132 AF) effective immediately. At the same time,... Details

Health Food Market Survey Realizing Hong Kong is lacking information of the health food market, the Association has commissioned the Social Sciences Research Centre of the University of Hong Kong to conduct a health food market survey in September 2008. 1062 Hong Kong residents were successfully interviewed via telephone calls. Response rate was 69.3%. The survey discovered 34.8% respondents took health food during the six months prior to the survey, among which the majority are females, managerial staff /employers, income above 20,000 and of... Details