Taiwan: Food Industry Focus

On the 11th of September 2013, Taiwan’s FDA notified the WTO of amendments to the draft standard “The Format and Covering Items on Nutrition Labeling for Prepackaged Foods" as notified by G/TBT/N/TPKM/129. The amendments to this standard will be subject to a further 30 days of consultation. The articles earmarked for change are as follows:

1. Revise the regulation basis (Article I);
2. Revise the definition of Dietary Fibers (Article II);
3. Revision of the amount of per one serving for food products in the form of tablets and capsules (excluding candy foods) (Article V);
4. Revision and addition of the criteria for the trans fats and cholesterol may be labeled as "0" (Article VIII);
5. Data formatting shall refer to the Chinese National Standard CNS2925 "Practices for designating significant places in specific limiting values" (Article IX);
6. Revision of the caloric calculation method for nutritional label of erythritol (Article XI);
7. Revision of the prepackaged foods which are not applied to this standard (Article XII);
8. Deletion of the article exempting unlabeled prepackaged food items from nutritional labeling requirements. It will be revised and announced in accordance with Article 23 of the act governing food sanitation.
 
Taiwan’s FDA also notified the WTO (WTO Notification G/TBT/N/TPKM/144) of labeling changes regarding the use of flavoring agents in pre-Packaged foods. Due to the complexity and number of compounds used in products and the space constraints inherent in nutritional labeling the FDA announced that the term "flavoring agents" be used if flavoring agents are added, and "natural flavoring agents" be used if the flavoring agents are natural.

For more information contact: tbtenq@bsmi.gov.tw