《食物內防腐劑規例》（第132BD章）的建議修訂

Introduction

The Preservatives in Food (Amendment) Regulation 2024 (the “Amendment Regulation”) has been published in the Gazette on 10 October 2024 and tabled at the Legislative Council on 16 October 2024 for negative vetting.

It was set out in the Policy Measures of the Chief Executive's 2022 Policy Address that the Government would 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. It was further set out in the Policy Measures of the Chief Executive's 2023 Policy Address that the Government would complete the related legislative exercise within 2024.

The objective of the Amendment Regulation is to keep local food safety standards on par with international standards, thereby enhancing consumer protection and facilitating the food trade. The Amendment Regulation has kept the standards of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) as the backbone, supplemented with those adopted by the Mainland and by Hong Kong's other major food trading partners.

The Amendment Regulation updates the definitions of “preservative” and “antioxidant” with reference to the corresponding definitions adopted by Codex.  The list of permitted preservatives / antioxidants has also been updated, which comprises 58 preservatives / antioxidants after the legislative amendments. The number of “additive-food” pairs with specified maximum permitted levels has increased from around 900 to around 2 000.

Preservatives in Food (Amendment) Regulation 2024

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.

3rd Meeting (15 November 2024)

2nd Meeting (27 October 2023) 

1st Meeting (23 August 2023)

Public consultation (29 May – 30 September 2023)

The public consultation period was ended on 30 September 2023.

Two consultation forums (9 June 2023 and 29 June 2023) on the Proposed Amendments to the Preservatives in Food Regulation have been arranged.