The Food & Drugs (Composition & Labelling) Regulation 2008 will come into force on July 1 next year.

The new legislation will help consumers make informed food choices, regulate misleading or deceptive labels and claims, and encourage manufacturers to apply sound nutrition principles in formulating foods for the benefit of public health.

Centre for Food Safety Consultant (Community Medicine) (Risk Assessment & Communication) Dr Ho Yuk-yin said today the centre conducted a survey on public knowledge, attitude and practice regarding nutrition labelling last summer.

More than 80% of the 1,200 people interviewed agreed nutrition labelling is important and the nutritional information helps them make healthier food choices.

A publicity and education campaign on nutrition labelling will launch this month to drive home the advantages of the nutrition labelling scheme and enhance public understanding on how to read nutrition labels and make use of such information to maintain a healthy diet.

Public announcements will be broadcast from today to encourage people to study nutrition labels and choose food lower in fat, sugar and sodium.

The centre is now developing a web-based nutrition label calculator to help the trade produce nutrition labels for prepackaged food.

Click here or call 2868 0000 for details.