Labelling, nutrition and health claims: what's happening in Southeast Asia?

There are no mandatory nutrition labelling requirements for foods in countr ies in the Southeast Asian region, except for special categories of foods a nd when nutritional claims are made. Nutrition and health claims are also n ot specifically permitted under current regulations. There is however incre asing interest among authorities in the region to formulate regulations for nutrition labelling for a wider variety of foods. There are concerns about lack of manpower for regulating bodies to monitor nutrition labels and cla ims and about: inadequate resources to give analytical services to the food industry. The importance of consumer education on nutrition labelling is e mphasised.