The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) is broadly collecting the opinions of the local food sector on “Standards of use of food additives in food” and will hold four seminars for the sector in early March to learn about the actual use of food additives in the local food production sector and exchange views on the optimisation of the relevant food safety standards. Meanwhile, the sector can also submit the questionnaire on use of food additives and opinion collection form before 10 March or call the Food Safety Hotline to give IAM their opinions and suggestions through multiple channels.

IAM has launched the formulation work of “Standards of use of food additives in food”, planning to incorporate and update Administrative Regulation no. 30/2017 “Standards for Use of Food Colourings in Food”, Administrative Regulation no. 12/2018 “Standards for Use of Sweeteners in Food” and Administrative Regulation no. 7/2019 “Standards for Use of Preservatives and Antioxidants in Food” which are currently in force. Meanwhile, IAM has also studied the addition of standards of use of other food additives common in local food, including emulsifiers, leavening agents, acidity regulators, etc., to further guide and regulate the use of food additives by those businesses engaging in the production and operation of food, so as to better safeguard public health.

For this purpose, IAM will hold four seminars for the sector in early March. Local producers of noodles, beverages, meat products, baked goods and souvenir food products are invited to attend. In the seminars, IAM representatives will briefly introduce the current situation of standards of use of food additives and the plan for update of the standards, brief them about the types and scope of use of common food additives in Macao, and discuss the actual use of food additives in the different food production sectors with the attendees and collect their opinions to deepen the communication and cooperation mechanism, so as to jointly safeguard local food safety through facilitating the inclusion of the common food additives in the setting of the relevant standards. For details of the seminars and registration, please call 8296 1210 or 8296 1209 to contact Ms Chan or Mr Lam of the Division of Risk Assessment of IAM.

In addition, to facilitate the expression of opinions by more members of the sector, IAM has uploaded “Questionnaire on use of food additives and opinion collection form” to the Food Safety Information website ( www.foodsafety.com ). Members of the sector can download and complete the forms and submit them by emailing them to fsconsult@iam.gov.mo or faxing them to 8296 1204. The period for the collection of forms lasts until 10 March. The sector is welcome to express their opinions.