Takehome:
- Public consultation for the proposed amendments is open and the deadline for comment is September 5th, 2017.
The public consultation period on Hong Kong’s amendments to the food adulteration (metallic contamination) regulations has begun. It will last for 3 months, until September 5th.
With a view to better promoting harmonization between local and international standards, the government proposes the update of the regulation and the proposed amendments include:
- to replace the existing generic food categories of “all food in solid / liquid form” with specific MLs targeting individual food / food groups
- to adopt MLs established by Codex unless otherwise justified;
- to establish MLs for food / food groups which are of significance to the population in Hong Kong and which there is no relevant Codex MLs;
- to update the food descriptions and nomenclatures in the Regulations
- to incorporate interpretation of MLs into the Regulations, given that there is currently no interpretation in the Regulations on how the maximum permitted concentrations can be applied to food in a dried, dehydrated or concentrated form and multi-ingredient products.
Documents below could be referred to for the details of the proposed amendments to the Regulations