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Announcement of drafting provisions for labeling fluoride on dietary salt, fully disclosing information of fluoridated salt

  • Data Source:Ministry of Health and Welfare
  • Created:2016-03-25
  • Last Updated:2017-01-10

On March 25, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (hereinafter referred to as the MOHW) announced a plan to draft the Provisions for Labeling Fluoride on Dietary Salt (PLFDS), which mandates labeling of fluoride content on dietary salt should it exist. The draft will be subject to a 60-day public feedback period. 

On April 27, 2015, the MOHW announced a plan to amend the Codex General Standard for Food Additives (GSFA) to allow potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride in family-pack dietary salt as food additives. The amounts of the aforementioned additives will be listed in fluoride ions, and the allowed amounts and specifications for these two additives will also be stipulated. To clearly and fully disclose the information of fluoridated salt, the MOHW announced a plan to draft the PLFDS to stipulate that the amount of potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride in dietary salt shall conform to the amounts listed in the GSFA, and that dietary salt that contain these two additives shall be called fluoridated salt. In addition, warnings such as “consult the dentist before use” and “for food only” shall be labeled. The total amount of fluoride shall be printed on the nutrition label, in fonts no smaller than 4mm on either side and in a color visibly different from the background. Also, these fluoridated salt products may declare “good for dental health” on the packaging. The PLFDS and the amended applications, allowed amounts, and specifications of potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride in the GSFA are set to take effect on July 1, 2016. 

Manufacturers of food additives shall register food additives of potassium fluoride or sodium fluoride to the MOHW for inspection starting from today. Qualified manufacturers will be issued permits starting from July 1, 2016. 
Health authorities constantly monitor food additives in retail food. For food additives that have not undergone registration and inspection from the central competent authority and received permits from said authority, or are found to be in in violation of GSFA or related laws, the manufacturers of such food additives will face fines of between NT$30,000 to NT$3,000,000 according to Article 47 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation. Serious violators will be suspended or shut down for a certain period, and their full or partial company, commerce, and factory registrations or their status as a food manufacturer may be revoked. Revoked manufacturers may not apply for reinstatement within one year.