Prakas on Standard CS 001-2000 on the Labeling of Food Products, Cambodia

Kingdom of Cambodia

Nation Religion King

3

Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy

No. 1045 ]rfb]>Rbk Phnom Penh, 28 December 2000

PRAKAS

ON

CAMBODIAN STANDARD CS 001-2000

LABELLING OF FOOD PRODUCT

3

MINISTER OF INDUSTRY, MINES AND ENERGY

- Seen the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia

- Seen the Royal Decree Nº ns ¼ rkm ¼ 1198 / 72 dated 30 November 1998 on the appointment of the Royat of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

l Governmen- Seen the Royal Kram Nº ns ¼ rkm ¼ 0196 / 05 dated 24 January 1999 on establishment of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy.

- Seen the Royal Kram Nº ns ¼ rkm ¼ 0600 / 001 dated 21 June 2000 noticed for using the Law on quality and safeucts, goods and services.

ty of prod- Seen the Royal Kram Nº 35 GnRk>Rbk dated 26 April 1999 on the organization and functioning of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy.

- Seen the Sub-Decree Nº 04 GnRk dated 26 February 1992 on Quality Management and Control of t and Industrial products.

handicraf- Seen the Prakas Nº 963 nb>Rbk dated 29 November 1999 on Industrial Product Registration of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy.

- Refer to the current situation.

DECIDES

Article 1: To establish the Industrial Standards of Cambodia CS001-2000 on the labelling of all pre-packaged foods to be offered as such to consumer as for catering purpose and to certain aspects relating to the presentation thereof.

Article 2: All companies, enterprises and handicrafts shall label all pre-packaged foods in conformity with the standard CS001-2000 as stated in the enclosed annexe.

Article 3: All previous regulations, which are inconsistent with this Prakas, shall be considered null and void.

Article 4: This Prakas shall take effect from this date of signature.

C.C:

- Cabinet of Council of Ministers

- Cabinet of Samdech P

rime Minister (For information)

- Ministry of Interior

- Ministry of Economy and Finance

- Ministry of Comm

erce - Ministry of Health Suy Sem

- Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery

- Ministry of Information

- Ministry of Justice

- All Municipal Office

- Municipal Departments of Industry, Mines and Energy

(For implementation)

- Document-Archives

Foreword

In order to make the Kingdom of Cambodia receives sufficient competence in management and development on industrialization, and to fulfill the potentiality of free trade, Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy has established Industrial Standards Bureau of Cambodia abbreviated ISC in the purposes of standard compilations and cooperation with other standards bodies, both inside and outside country, including Regional Organization for Standardization and International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Kingdom of Cambodia has been as a subscriber member of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) since 01 January 1995. While Kingdom of Cambodia has been as a member of ASEAN, the compilation of industrial standards is one essential task amongst other essential tasks of Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy in order to facilitate goods on a national and international trade and to improve efficiently product quality which will bring the annual increase of productions by receiving effective trade, facilitating and the requirements of consumers by giving positively to public health.

Industrial Standards Bureau of Cambodia of Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy has compiled general standards for the labelling of prepackaged foods for the consumers in the Kingdom of Cambodia to use according to purposes and requirements of goods, which are food products.

The standard of the labelling of prepackaged foods is prepared by adopting the international standards and by researching the definite requirement and the experience after Kingdom of Cambodia has met.

Cambodian Standards

CS 001:2000

ON

THE LABELLING OF PREPACKAGED FOOD

1. Scope

The standard applies to the labelling of all prepackaged goods to be offered as such to consumer or for catering purposes and to certain aspects relating to the presentation thereof.

2. Definition of Terms for the purpose of this standards

- Consumer means person or another group purchasing or receiving food in order to meet their personal needs.

- Container means any packaging of food for delivery maintenance as a single item, whether by completely or partially enclosing the food and includes wrappers. A container may enclose several units or types of packages when such is offered to the consumer.

- Date of Manufacture means the date on which the food becomes the product as described.

- Date of Packaging means the date on which the food is placed in the immediate container in which it will be ultimately sold.

- Use-by date (Recommended last Consumption Date, Expiration date) means the date which signifies the end of the estimated period under any stated storage conditions, after which the product probably will not have the quality attributes normally expected by the consumers. After this date, the food should not be regarded as marketable.

- Date of Minimum Durability (Best before) means the date which signifies the end of period under any stated storage conditions during which the product will remain fully marketable and will retain any specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made. However, beyond the date the food may still be perfectly satisfactory.

- Food means any substance, whether processed, semi-processed or raw, which is intended for human consumption, and includes drinks, chewing gum, and any substance which has been used in the manufacture, preparation or treatment of “food” but does not include cosmetics or tobacco or substance used only as drugs.

- Food additive means any substance not normally consumed as a food by itself and not normally used as a typical ingredient of food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological (including organoleptic) purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging, transport or holding of such food results, or may be reasonable expected to result, (directly or indirectly) in it or its-by products becoming a component of or otherwise affecting the characteristics of such foods. The term does not include “contaminant “or substance added to food for maintaining or improving nutritional qualities.

- Ingredient means any substance, including a food additive, used in the manufacture or preparation of a food and present in the final product although possibly in a modified form.

- Label means any tag, brand, pictorial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stenciled, marked, embossed, or impressed on, or attached to, a container of food.

- Labelling includes any written, printed or graphic matter that is present on the label, accompanies the food, or is displayed near the food, including that for the purpose of promoting its sale or disposal.

- Lot means a definitive quantity of a commodity produced essentially under the same conditions.

- Prepackaged means packaged or made up in advance in a container, ready for offer to the consumer, or for catering purposes.

- Processing Aid means a substance or material, not including apparatus or utensils, and not consumed as a food ingredient by itself, intentionally used in the processing of raw materials, foods or its ingredients, to fulfill a certain technological purpose during treatment or processing and which may result in the non-intentional but unavoidable presence of residues or derivatives in the final product.

- Foods for Catering Purposes mean those foods for use in restaurants, canteens, schools, hospitals, and similar institutions where food is offered for immediate consumption.

3. General Principles

Packaged food shall not be described or presented on any label or in any labelling in a manner that is false, misleading or deceptive or is likely to create an erroneous impression regarding its character in any respect.

Prepackaged food shall not be described or presented on any label or in any labelling by word, pictorial or other devices which refer to or are suggestive either directly or indirectly, of any other product with which such food might be confused, or in such manner as to lead the purchaser or consumer to suppose that the food is connected with such other product.

4. Mandatory Labelling of Prepackaged Foods

Each prepackaged food product shall be labeled to give clear and enough information to consumers and authorized officials.

The following information shall appear on the label of prepackaged foods as the food being labeled.

4.1 The Name of the Food

The name shall indicate the true nature of the food and normally be specific as the following types:

- Where a name or names have been established for a food in the standard, at least one of these names shall be used.

- In other cases, the name prescribed by national legislation shall be used

- Where a new name to be used instead of a common or usual name shall be described appropriate term, which was not misleading or confusing to the consumer.

- A new name can be used as a product name.

- A name of food product can be added words or phrases on the label, either in conjunction with or in close proximity to other product, shall be avoided misleading or confusing the consumer in regard to the true nature and physical condition of food including but not limited to the type of packing medium, style, and the condition or type of treatment it has undergone.

- Where is necessary, it shall specify physical condition of product, for example: dried, concentrated, reconstituted, and smoked.

- A name of the product shall be written in bold letter and the size of letter shall be appropriate to the size of paper or surface, which will be labeled.

4.2 Trade Mark

Trademark is a drawing that shall be seen clearly by consumer and shall be known the difference of each product.

The use of trademark shall be conformed with the rule of authorized body.

4.3 List of Ingredients

Except for single ingredient foods, a list of ingredients shall be declared on the label by descending order of ingoing weight (m/m), Volume (v/v) or percent (%).

Where an ingredient is itself the product of two or more ingredients, such a compound ingredient may be declared, as such, in the list of ingredients provided that it is immediately accompanied by a list in brackets of its ingredients in descending order of proportion

All added vitamins or minerals shall be declared in the list of ingredients.

All products, which have substances as in below, shall be declared in the list of ingredients:

- Sodium chloride/salt

- Sodium Nitrate

- Sodium/Potassium Nitrate

- Monosodium Glutamate/MSG

- Specific names for non-nutritive sweeteners

Added water shall be declared in the list of ingredients except

when the water forms a part of an ingredient such as brine, syrup or broth used in a compound food. Water or other volatile ingredients evaporated in the course of manufacture needs not be declared in the list of ingredients.

No need to be declared in the list of ingredients as below:

- food additives which serve as processing aids

- food additives for keeping the aromas and a long time, and the additives giving color, which can be in the products.

4. 4 Net Contents and Drained Weight

The net contents of products shall be declared in the manner as below:

1. for liquid foods shall be declared in volume units such as liter (l) or milliliter (ml)

2. for solid foods shall be declared in weight units such as Kilogram (Kg) or milligram (mg)

3. for semi-solid or viscous foods shall be declared in either weight units or volume units.

- there shall be declared units of number of packets, bottles, pieces or dozens on the crate, cases or any big packet.

- for vegetable cans or fruit cans, which contain water, shall be declared the net weight of the vegetable or the fruit only.

- the net content of some food products shall not be declared such as

o bonbons which is its weight less than 20g

o fruit preserves which is its weight less than 50g

o all food products which have the content less than 5g or 5ml except the spices and aroma plants

4.5 Names and Address

The name and address of the manufacturer, packer, distributor, importer, exporter or vendor of the food shall be declared.

4.6 Country of Origin

The source of food or the country of the food origin shall be declared to avoid misleading or deceiving the consumer of the source or place of the food origin.

When a food undergoes processing in a second country, which changes its nature, the country shall be considered to be the country of origin or the source of origin that shall be declared on the food labelling.

4.7 Lot number of product

Each food product shall be declared permanently in a code number on the food labelling or the food packaging for identifying the manufacture products, and in a lot number of product to be taken responsible by the manufacturer, in any case, and to be easy for authorized officials to observe.

4.8 Date Marking and Storage Instructions

The date marking of products shall be declared as following:

a- the food product shall be declared that it can keep aroma, color, flavor, quality and safety in the limited durability.

- the day and the month for products with a minimum durability of the storage is not more than three months

- the month and the year for products with a minimum durability of the storage is more than three months.

b- The date shall be declared by words:

- The production date ............(the day of the product being produced)

- The packaging date ............(the day of the product being packaged )

- The expiry date ................. (the day of the product expired)

- Best before ........... or best before end .............( the day of

minimum durability).

c- the day, month and year shall be declared in numerical sequence except that the month may be indicated by letters, which will not confuse the consumer.

d- It could be permitted not to be declared the date of minimum durability on some foods such as below:

- fresh vegetable, fruits and bulbs, which are in the origin of its nature;

- all kind of wines;

- beverages containing more than 10% by volume of alcohol;

- vinegar, food grade salt, white sugar, ice-cream, bonbons, chewing gum;

- kind of bread products which are normally to keep for use in 24 hours only;

e- In addition to the date of minimum durability, any special conditions of the food shall be declared on the label if the validity of the date depends thereon.

4.9 Instructions for Use

A producer might not make instructions of use, but in necessary case shall make instructions of use, including all conditions or places, which can be used, on the label. Necessary information shall instruct clearly the use of the food.

5. Additional Mandatory Requirements

5.1 Quantitative Labelling of Ingredients

Where the labelling of a food places special emphasis on the presence of one or more valuable and/or characterizing ingredients, or where the description of the food has the same effect, the ingoing percentage of the ingredient (m/m) at the time of manufacture shall be declared.

Similarly, where the labelling of a food places special emphasis on the low content of one or more ingredients, the percentage of the ingredient (m/m) in the final product shall be declared.

5.2 Irradiated Foods

The label of a food which has been treated with ionizing radiation shall carry a written statement indicating that treatment in close proximity to the name of the food. The use of the international food irradiation symbol, as shown below

When an irradiated product is used as an ingredient in another food, this shall be so declared in the list of ingredients.

When a single ingredient product is prepared from a raw material which has been irradiated, the label of the product shall contain a statement indicating the treatment.

6. Exemption from Mandatory Labelling Requirements

With the exception of spices and herbs, small units, where the largest surface area is less than 10 cm², may be exempted from the requirements of paragraphs 4.2 and 4.6 to 4.8 .

7. Optional Labelling

Any information or pictorial device which is important shall be permitted to display on the food labelling, if it is not in conflict with the mandatory requirements of this standard and those relating to claims and deception given in section 3 – General principle.

The grade designations are used, they shall be readily understandable and not be misleading or deceptive in any way.

8. Presentation of Mandatory Information

8. 1 General

Statements required to appear on the label by virtue of this standard shall be clear, prominent, indelible and readily legible by consumer under normal conditions of purchase and use.

A product that its container is covered by a wrapper or an additional pack, and the food labelling is inside of the wrapper or the additional pack, the wrapper or the additional pack shall carry the necessary information or use a symbol that shall be readily legible through the outer wrapper or additional pack. The meaning of the necessary information shall not be opposite meaning to the meaning of the labelling information inside.

The name and the net contents of the food shall appear in a prominent position and in the same field of vision.

8.2 Language

All products, which are produced in the locality for local use, shall be written necessarily in Khmer language on the label. It may be permitted to write an additional foreign language such as English, French, Chinese etc. but the size of the letter shall be smaller than Khmer letter.

For imported products shall be written or stuck in Khmer language which can be accepted by users.

The necessary information written in Khmer language shall be fulfilled accurately regarding the original label.

8.3 Prohibition on Product Labelling

- Shall not be written what, which it makes users confuse with the products

- Shall not be declared what, which it makes users confuse with the content and weight of product.

- Shall not be declared the quality of product that it is the good number one before authorized body issues the certificate of the acceptance.

- Shall not be written or changed the food products to the medicaments for curing illness except the mineral water only.