Talking health: Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Carrie Yau and Food Safety Centre Consultant Dr Ho Yuk-yin meet European Food Safety Authority Executive Director Catherine Geslain-Laneele in Parma.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Carrie Yau says Hong Kong must strike a balance between the safe, steady and varied supply of foodstuff to maintain its status as a gourmet and shopping paradise.

Visiting the European Food Safety Authority in Parma, Italy, today, Mrs Yau said keeping track of the latest developments in international food standards and regulations is crucial to the development and implementation of an effective food-safety regulatory regime.

"Hong Kong needs to update the regulatory regime from time to time since we import over 90% of food from all over the world. Over-regulation may drive food products away from the shelf, suppress supply and drive prices up unnecessarily."

Mrs Yau met with authority officials to learn more about how the body conducts its work in risk assessment and risk communication, as well as its work in providing scientific advice on food standard setting and nutrition claims.

Nutrition labelling

On the first leg of her European visit, Mrs Yau visited the UK's Food Standards Agency on June 13 to learn more about the country's nutrition-labelling requirements, food-safety laws and regulatory mechanisms.

In European Union countries, nutrition information on food labels remains voluntary except for food that carries claims, namely, pre-packaged foods that advertise contents such as "low fat " or "sugar free".

EU countries are working towards the direction of requiring mandatory labelling for certain core nutrients on all food, but there is no definite timing for this yet.

Mrs Yau said: "At the beginning, we proposed all pre-packaged foods will eventually be required to carry labels with information on nine core nutrients plus energy. However, we observe that this now seems to be a bit excessive since the 27 countries in EU are still implementing a voluntary scheme with the exception of claims-based products which are required to carry labels with no more than seven core nutrients plus energy. We will continue to gauge people's views with an aim to put forward a more balanced proposal.

"We have to take note of the labelling requirements in the neighbouring region as well as our major importing countries so that any system we put in place will not be out of step."

She said if there is discrepancy in food-labelling requirements between Hong Kong and places from which food is imported, it may affect the stability and choice of food supply.