BEIJING - China's Ministry of Health Wednesday publicized the country's first national standard for food nutrition labeling, which is set to take effect January 1, 2013.

Bearing a standard code of GB28050-2011, the new regulation provides that food package labels will have to spell out food's nutritional information, including levels of energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate and sodium.

If any hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fat is used for producing the food, the level of trans fat will have to be highlighted on the nutritional information label.

The regulation stresses that nutritional information should be accurate and objective, warning against any cheating and exaggerating.

Encouraging food firms to conform to the new rule as early as possible, the ministry said food products without proper nutritional information labels will be banned from sale after the new rule takes effect.

The regulation will help standardize the nutritional information labeling by food manufacturers, as well as protect consumers' rights to know and to choose, while improving public awareness of food nutrition, said Yang Yuexin, a nutrition expert with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.