A proposal for new food labelling requirements in Hong Kong could impact on New Zealand exporters.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Government submitted a draft nutritional labelling law for pre-packaged food to the Legislative Council in April to undergo a "negative vetting" procedure.
The vetting period will end on May 28.
The proposed nutritional labelling requirements align with the New Zealand and Australian approach of listing one energy plus six nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, total fat, saturated fat, sodium and sugars), with an additional requirement for transfat.
However, it includes a small volume exemption scheme for food products with annual sales volumes of less than 30,000 units but this will be forfeited if any nutritional claim is made, such as low fat, low sodium or zero transfat.
The sales volumes for most pre-packaged health food items would be unlikely to exceed 30,000 units and it is not cost effective for companies to change the label for small quantities in order to meet Hong Kong's requirements.
The local trade is worried that up to 15,000 pre-packaged health food items may disappear from the market.
While this represents only 2.5 percent of total food sales in Hong Kong, it includes 20 percent of the total product range.
In ThreeSixty and Jasons Marketplace, two high-end supermarket brands operated by the Dairy Farm Group, half of the product range will be affected.
The New Zealand Consulate-General has been working closely with other consulates to encourage the Hong Kong authorities to review the proposed labelling requirements.
NZTE is continuing to liaise with the consulate for any updates.
For new products entering the market, companies are advised to closely examine full labelling requirements for Hong Kong, including the new nutritional labelling requirements.
|
