Food Industry Summit organised by Food Industry Asia (www.foodindustry.asia) : 06 September 2012

2. Priorities in The Philippines
Edith de Leon
Philippines Food Chamber

3. EDITH A. DE LEON
President, PH Food Chamber
06 September 2012
Jakarta, Indonesia

4.  PCFMI: Philippine Chamber of Food Manufacturers,
Inc.
 a.k.a. PH Food Chamber
 Established and incorporated by some of the leading
F&B companies in the PH on December 5, 1959, or
about 52 years ago
 Remains to be the biggest and most trusted and most
respected voice of the food industry in the PH

5. Ajinomoto Philippines Inc.. • A. Tung Chingco Trading Inc. • BNC Ingredients
Corporation • Coca-Cola Export Corporation • Commonwealth Foods Inc. •
Cornell Ingredients Corporation • Del Monte Philippines Inc. • Edward Keller
Philippines Inc. • Essentiel International Ingredients Corporation • Fonterra
Brands Philippines Inc. • Gardenia Bakeries Philippines Inc. • Genosi Inc. •
Handyware Philippines Inc. • International Flavors & Fragrances Phil. Inc. •
Intertek Testing Services Phil. Inc. • Jollibee Food Corporation • Kawsek Inc. •
King Sue Ham & Sausage Factory • Kraft Foods Philippines Inc. • La Frutera Inc.
• Leslie Corporation • LNA Management Group Corporation • Mead Johnson
Nutrition Philippines • Monde Nissin Corporation • Monsanto Philippines •
Nestle Philippines Inc. • Newton Food Products • New Zealand Creamery •
Nutriasia Inc. • Oriental Tin Can & Metal Sheet Manufacturing • PepsiCo •
Promesso Business Solutions • Reno Foods Inc. • RFM Corporation • San Pablo
Manufacturing Corporation • San Miguel Corporation • San Miguel Foods Inc.
Sensient Philippines Inc. • Sentrotek Corporation • Splash Corporation • Sysu
International Inc. • Trully Natural Food Corporation • Unilever Philippines •
Universal Robina Corporation • Wyeth Philippines Inc.

6. 1. Health and Nutrition
◦ Building a Healthy Nation: Helping addressing the
health and nutrition issues of the country
 Product reformulation, food fortification, consumer
education for a healthy lifestyle, responsible
communication
 Multi-stakeholder partnerships

7. 2. Food Safety, Food Security
◦ Access to safe, high quality nutritious food for a
healthy life
 Food standards, GMP, sustainability and defense, the
responsible use of environment and natural
resources
 Effective communication of scientific information and
consumer education towards a healthy lifestyle

8. 3. Advocate, Promote and Protect Fair Trade Practices
◦ From farm to fork
◦ Serve as voice of industry in the establishment of or
amendments to food regulations, ensuring these are
harmonized with international guidelines, to remove
trade barriers while ensuring availability of nutritious
safe food and utmost consumer protection
4. Training, Development and Support
o Sharing of best practices among members

11.  Signed August 18, 2009, IRRs signed March
14, 2011
 Renamed BFAD to FDA
 Objectives: Enhance and strengthen the
admin and technical capacity of the FDA in
the regulation of establishments and
products

13.  Causes:
◦ Lack of resources from the PH FDA
◦ Differing interpretations of the laws and guidelines
 Impact:
◦ Delays in new product launches
◦ Challenges in imports-exports due to increased /
unclear documentation requirements
◦ Lost sales, out-of-stock or overstock situations

14.  Provided temporary manpower assistance to the PH
FDA for administrative work
 Dialogue with national government to help expedite
release of funds to support the building up of
manpower and other resources needed by the PH
FDA
 Regular dialogue with the authorities to better
understand the new or revised requirements
 Training Partnerships

17. Date of expiration 46.0%
Nutrition facts 45.8%
Ingredients 38.3%
* Multiple responses

18. Nutrition content 73.4%
Calorie per serving 26.1%
Amount per serving 10.5%

20. Consumers seek for trustworthy information.

21.  Mandatory for:
• For food for special dietary use
• Food with nutritional claims
• Fortified or enriched foods
 Nutrients to be listed:
• Energy
• Fat
• Carbohydrates
• Protein
• Other fortified nutrients
 Allows Nutrient Content Claims
 Uses local Nutrient Reference
Value (RENI)

22. Lack of harmonized regulation in ASEAN countries
necessitates use of different labels for each export
country
◦ Costly
◦ Higher risks of non-compliance by distributors
◦ Logistical issues
◦ Longer registration leadtimes
 Need to negotiate with FDA
 Need to support labeling claims with strong evidence

24.  GDA not yet accepted as front-of-pack
 PH DOH commissioned two NGOs to come up with a
local version of the FOP
◦ NDAP – Nutritionists Dieticians of the Philippines
◦ PCP – Philippine College of Physicians
 WISE EAT seal:
DOH
NDAP PCP

25. To have the logo, a product must satisfy all criteria for NORMAL levels
(based on Recommended Values per 100 kcal of the product)
Sugars Fat Sodium Cholesterol
<5g / 100 kcal <5g/ 100 kcal <134mg / 100kcal <16.7mg / 100kcal
and
….must satisfy AT LEAST ONE of the following conditions based on Codex
Nutrient Max. level to claim “low in”
Fat 3g /100g; 1.5g/100ml
Saturated Fat 1.5g / 100g solids; 0.75g/100ml;equal to less than 10% of calorie content
Cholesterol 0.02g/100g; 0.01g/100ml; equal to or less than 0.005g/100g
Sodium Equal to less than 0.12g (Low), 0.04g (Very Low) or 0.005g (Free) / 100 g
Sugars Equal to or less than 5g /100 g or 2.5g/100ml (Low) or 0.5g/100g or
0.5g/100ml (Free)
Source of Fiber: 3g/100g or 1.5g/100kcal
High in Fiber: 6g/ 100g or 3g/100kcal

26.  “Flagging” a food as healthy could be misinterpreted as
okay for unlimited consumption.
 Focus on individual foods rather than the context of the
total diet
 Based on 100 kcal portions, rather than what people
normally consume.
 Has not been thoroughly tested for its effectiveness.
 The scheme could be viewed as a barrier to trade, given
there is no use of a similar scheme in the ASEAN region.

27. • There are no “good” food or “bad” food.
• All food and beverages can be part of an active, healthy
lifestyle that includes a sensible, balanced diet and
regular physical activity.
• People consume many different foods and beverages, so no
one single food or beverage alone is responsible for people
being overweight or obese.
• Individual foods as part of a total diet
• Calories consumed = Calories expended

28.  Science-based / Fact-based / Portion-based
◦ gives best guidance from a nutritional point of view, based on overall diet, not
on consumption of an individual product.
 Simple and easy to implement
 Useful to consumers
 In line with fact-based approaches being applied on
voluntary basis in most parts of the world

31.  Past: Import finished counterfeit products. Big local
distributors.
 Present: Import packaging, print and pack locally.
Multiple distribution points via the small stores and
wet markets. Harder to crack down.
 PH FDA, together with the PH IPO and local police
collaborating to solve the issue

33.  PH Department of Justice issued an opinion that the
FDA has the mandate and authority to prohibit the
use of any trademark if this contains claims which are
not allowed by the FDA or if this can mislead
consumers.
 Working closely with the Department of Trade and
Industry – IPO to further clarify the basis for the
opinion of the DOJ

34. Working together with stakeholders for a better, healthier nation.
PHILIPPINE FOOD INDUSTRY:
Our Priorities
06 September 2012
Jakarta, Indonesia