Lcq14 Assisting Health Tender

Following is a question by the Hon Shiu Kafai and a written reply by the Secretary for Environment and Ecology Mr Tse Chinwan in the Legislative Council today October 21

Question

Some members of the local health food industry have relayed that under the Administrative Provisions of the Customs of the Peoples Republic of China on Registration of Overseas Manufacturers for Export of Food to China Order No 280 of the General Administration of Customs the General Administration of Customs of the Mainland is responsible for determining the catalogue of imported food subject to official recommendation for registration the Catalogue Overseas production enterprises of food listed in the Catalogue shall submit the review and inspection report and recommendation letter issued by the appropriate authorities of the region where these enterprises are located before making any application for allowing their food to access the Mainland market However upon application to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department FEHD for Recommendation on Food Manufacturer Registration some members of the industry were notified that their applications could not be processed further after receiving a reply from the FEHD stating that the products under application are not regarded as general food products and fall outside the remit of the FEHD Subsequently these applicants contacted the Department of Health and were informed that health food products did not fall within the category of pharmaceutical products and their applications were not processed again The aforesaid situation shows that local health food products are currently facing a predicament where they are unable to obtain recommendation for registration and encounters difficulties in accessing the Mainland market As a result these applicants have nowhere to turn to for assistance and sustainable development of the local industries will be affected In this connection will the Government inform this Council

1 whether it has assessed the market size annual growth rate and other conditions of local health food products over the past five years if so of the details if not whether it has made references to the results of other market surveys in respect of such matters

2 whether it has assessed the demand for health products and health food in the Mainland market over the past five years if so of the details if not whether it has made references to the results of other market surveys in respect of such matters

3 whether the Administration has received complaint cases about failure of health food products to obtain recommendation for registration over the past three years if so of the respective numbers of such cases received in each year how it provided assistance to the applicants and

4 given that the First FiveYear Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 20262030 proposes consolidating Hong Kongs role as a food import and export trade hub promoting the export of a wider spectrum of Hong Kong food products to the Mainland and enabling them to enjoy customs clearance facilitation how the authorities will assist local health food products in developing the Mainland market including the specific measures facilitating transport and customs clearance to be implemented

Reply

President

All food confers some benefit on health To help safeguard food safety the Codex Alimentarius Commission CODEX a body established jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO and the World Health Organization WHO provides a definition and classification of food together with the corresponding food safety standards The products that are commonly claimed to be health food products are highly diverse in type and vary in composition and may be sold under different names Such products include for example powder and capsule products containing Chinese or Western medicinal ingredients There is also no internationally unified definition or regulatory approach for these products Different regions take different approaches

In Hong Kong given that health food products may contain medicinal or Chinese herbal medicine ingredients and involve claims of specific health effects the Government adopts a multipronged strategy to regulate such products Depending on their nature ingredients content of claims made directions for use dosage packaging specifications etc health products are subject to regulation under different ordinances including the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance PHMSO Cap 132 the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance PPO Cap 138 the Chinese Medicine Ordinance CMO Cap 549 the Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance UMAO Cap 231 and legislation underpinning the general protection of consumer rights The control under the UMAO Cap 231 also applies to six groups of health claims for orally consumed products

Having consulted the Health Bureau the Department of Health DH and the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau we set out our reply to various parts of the question as follows

1 and 2 The HKSAR Government has not compiled official statistics specifically on the market size of health food products

3 According to the Decree No 280 of the General Administration of Customs of the Peoples Republic of China GACC Administrative Provisions of the Customs of the Peoples Republic of China on Registration of Overseas Manufacturers for Export of Food to China the Provisions overseas manufacturers of food products listed in the catalogue of imported foods requiring registration upon official recommendation must submit an audit and inspection report the items audited cover origins of the raw materials used in products environment and layout of the production premises production equipment storage facilities etc and a recommendation letter issued by the competent authority of their region before applying to enter the Mainland market The Food and Environmental Hygiene Departmen