The European Commission has released its 2024 annual notification report on food contact materials (FCMs) and related articles, highlighting the key products affected and the most frequently reported issues.

On 19 May, the General Administration of Customs of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Environment and Ecology Bureau signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Inspection, Quarantine and Hygiene Requirements for Meat Products Exported from Hong Kong to the Mainland and a Cooperation Arrangement for the Export of Dairy Products from Hong Kong to the Mainland. The two agreements facilitate food trade between Hong Kong and the Mainland, and the development of Hong Kong’s meat and dairy products businesses. Hong Kong-manufactured meat and dairy products meeting the requirements set out in the agreements will be allowed to be imported into the Mainland. The agreements also put in place monitoring of food safety at source for Hong Kong-manufactured meat and dairy products exported to the Mainland, and lay out requirements for testing in relation to raw materials, production management, and the storage and transportation of food products. The Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the General Administration of Customs will discuss operational details in due course.

The increasingly health-conscious Gulf states represent a potential bonanza for international food exporters.

On 30th May 2025, the Japanese government announced China had agreed to begin procedures related to resuming the import of Japanese seafood, lifting the ban imposed over concerns over the release of treated radioactive wastewater. After extensive bilateral discussions, the respective governments reached agreement on the required technical protocols for the conditional resumption of imports of Japanese fishery products into China, according to Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary.

F&B businesses at the Gulfood 2025 expo revealed different approaches to US tariff threats, including market diversification.

At the EU–UK Summit on 20 May 2025, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa endorsed a renewed political commitment to reinforce and expand bilateral cooperation between the United Kingdom and the European Union. As the decisions that were made will impact on bilateral trade, health and some elements of product compliance, Hong Kong sellers with customers in both the UK and the EU may find this topic to be of particular interest.

For the purposes of implementing the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and using advanced standards to boost high-quality development in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), the GBA Standardization Research Center promulgated on 8 May a Notice Concerning the Standards to be Included in the List of GBA Standards in accordance with the requirements stipulated in the Guidelines for Promoting the Development of Standards in the GBA (Trial) (Notice No. 66 [2023] of the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation). Nine items are proposed for addition to the list of standards to be adopted throughout the GBA (“GBA Standards”).

This study focuses on four key non-Muslim majority Halal food exporters – Brazil, Australia, South Korea and Thailand – and seeks to understand the factors that may have made them such successful suppliers and highlight the lessons for Hong Kong companies if they are to develop Halal food trade.

The FDA has extended until 15 July the period for interested parties to comment on a 16 January proposal to require a front-of-package nutrition label for most packaged foods that, according to the agency, would give consumers readily visible information about a food’s saturated fat, sodium and added sugars content.

In a move that the FDA said “marks a new era in FDA enforcement,” the agency has announced its intent to expand the use of unannounced inspections at foreign manufacturing facilities that produce foods, essential medicines and other medical products intended for U.S. consumers and patients.