Proposed Amendments to the Preservatives in Food Regulation (Cap. 132BD)

Introduction

The Government has launched a public consultation on the proposed amendments to the Preservatives in Food Regulation (Cap. 132BD) (the Regulation). The consultation period has ended on 30 September 2023.

One of the initiatives set out in the Policy Measures of the Chief Executive's 2022 Policy Address is to review and update by phases the food safety legislation relating to additives in food to further enhance food safety. The first phase covers preservatives and antioxidants in food.

The Government proposes to enhance and update the Regulation, so as to keep local standards of preservatives and antioxidants in food on par with international standards. At the same time, putting more preservatives and antioxidants under regulation would enhance clarity and offer more choices of permitted preservatives and antioxidants applicable to a wide range of food categories to the food trade. It would also enhance consumer protection.

Major proposed amendments

Proposed amendments to Cap. 132BD, by keeping Codex standards as the backbone and supplemented with standards of the Mainland and other major food trading partners, mainly include:

• To update the definitions of “preservative” and “antioxidant”;
• To update the list of permitted preservatives / antioxidants; and
• To update / stipulate the maximum permitted levels (MPLs) of the permitted preservatives and antioxidants in specified food categories.

Technical meeting (August 2023 – ongoing)

A series of meetings to discuss with trade and other interested stakeholders on technical issues related to the proposed amendments to Cap. 132BD has been arranged.

2nd Meeting (27 October 2023)

• Invitation letter with agenda
• Powerpoints
  • Testing approach to the preservatives and antioxidants listed in the proposed amendments
  • Accreditation service for food testing

1st Meeting (23 August 2023) 

• Invitation letter with agenda
• Powerpoints
  • Proposed amendments to the Preservatives in Food Regulation
  • Proposed outline / content of the updated Preservatives and Antioxidants User Guidelines

Public consultation (29 May – 30 September 2023)

• Download Consultation Document

The public consultation period has ended on 30 September 2023.

• Consultation Forums

Download powerpoint presentation for the consultation forum

Two consultation forums have been arranged as follows:-

Date:	9 June 2023 (Friday)	29 June 2023 (Thursday)
Time:	2:30 pm – 4:00 pm	2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Format:	Physical meeting	Online video conferencing (Zoom Cloud meeting)
Venue:	Conference Room, 1/F, New Wan Chai Market, 258 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Registration deadline:	5 June 2023	26 June 2023

Typhoon and Adverse Weather Arrangement

• The technical meeting will be cancelled if typhoon signal No. 8 or above OR black rainstorm warning is still hoisted (or is announced by the Hong Kong Observatory to be hoisted) 4 hours or less before the commencement of the technical meeting.
• If the typhoon signal pre-No. 8 or the typhoon signal No. 8 or above is hoisted during the technical meeting, the technical meeting will be terminated immediately.
• If the Hong Kong Observatory announces the black rainstorm warning is to be hoisted or is hoisted during the technical meeting, technical meeting already in progress will continue.