Labelling changes: Taiwan’s Health Ministry drafts logo for infant and toddler food products

The logo, which consists of a woman carrying a baby, also comes with the slogans “mother’s breastmilk is the best source of nutrition for infants (母乳是嬰兒最佳的營養來源)” and “The Ministry of Health and Welfare cares for you (衛生福利部關心您).”

Other than that, the products should refrain from terms that makes reference to human breastmilk, such as “humanised milk (人乳化、母乳化) to show that the products are better than human breastmilk.

Pictures of infants and pictures or wordings that idealise the products are also not allowed.  

In addition, the product labelling should not include statements that are untrue, exaggerated, or mispresent the product.

This is the second time the ministry is proposing new changes​ and seeking public consultation to the policy “Regulations Governing the Labelling of Infant and Follow-up Formula”. Prior to this announcement, it had proposed other related changes in September last year.​

Other drafted changes include stating on the product packaging the product usage and storage methods, dosage amount, and warning statements.

For example, for products that contain less than 1mg of iron per 100 Kcal, the products should state the phrase “infants taking this product should take note of supplementing iron (嬰兒 食用時，應注意補充鐵質)”, or phrases that convey the same meaning.

If the product contains more than 1mg of iron per 100Kcal, then it should state “iron-fortified infant formula food (添加鐵質之嬰兒配方食品)”.

On the other hand, the products should specify which categories do they belong to, such as “infant formula foods”, “complementary foods for older infants”, as well as the intended consumers.

The public consultation is opened for the next 60 days, starting from August 17 and the draft policy is set to be officially implemented on July 1, 2024.

Products manufactured before the date could continue to be sold in the market until the date of expiry.