Food safety authority orders Hong Kong supermarket to pull baby formula from shelves for low iodine levels

HONG KONG — Traders in Hong Kong have been urged not to sell a French brand of infant baby formula after it was found to contain iodine levels below the legal minimum requirement.

Hong Kong’s Centre for Food and Safety (CFS) on Monday (Marach 20) announced that it had ordered a Tsim Sha Tsui supermarket to stop selling Physiolac Relay 1, made by Laboratoires Gilbert in France, with a best-before date of May 7, 2019.

Two samples of the product taken in February and earlier this month showed a discrepancy between the formula’s actual iodine content of 35 micrograms per 100g and the amount declared on its label of 80 micrograms per 100g.

A CFS spokesman said the formula also contained 6.94 micrograms of iodine per 100kcal, well below the legal minimum requirement of 10 micrograms per 100kcal, as stipulated in Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) Regulations.

The findings prompted the centre to again order the supermarket to take the product off its shelves.

“The CFS has informed the vendor concerned of the irregularity and the vendor concerned has stopped sale and removed from shelves the affected batch of the product according to the instructions of the CFS,” the spokesman said.

“The CFS is tracing the distribution of the affected product. Should there be sufficient evidence, prosecution will be instituted.”

Falsely describing or providing misleading information on a food product label carries a maximum fine of HK$50,000 (S$9,030) and six months imprisonment, according to the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance.

Selling products that do not conform to Hong Kong’s food nutrition requirements also carries a maximum fine of HK$50,000 and six months jail, as stated by the Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) Regulations. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST