Press Releases

Transcript of Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food on food safety

        Following is a transcript of the remarks made by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, at a media session at the Legislative Council Building today (May 5):

Dr Yeoh: On this question of the vermicelli which has been reported by the media today relating to the substitution of other products, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has been in contact with the Mainland authorities to understand the problems involved and they promise to give us an answer as soon as possible despite this week being the Golden Week holidays in the Mainland. I am most appreciative of their response. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has a regular surveillance system which takes samples of food in Hong Kong. The last report was in fact just given out at the end of last month. When it reported at last year, we had taken 53,000 samples from different types of food. We test them for bacteria, viruses and chemicals. The failure rates have been similar to previous years. The failure rates are less than 1%. This means that the standards are being upheld. Obviously, these are not things we wish to see. We want to see zero failure rate and the department is continuing its efforts to see how it can strengthen the system of food surveillance. We have, in fact just last year, an agreement with the assurance and quarantine authorities in the Mainland. We do have a regular dialogue with them to discuss food safety issues. We have meetings at two levels. One is with the Minister himself and we have agreed to meet once a year to discuss food safety issues. At a more technical level, at the departmental level, there are two meetings a year. These are very good opportunities for us to really look at food safety issues and how we can strengthen our communication with the Mainland.

Reporter: (question inaudible)

Dr Yeoh: In terms of food safety, obviously it is the whole regulatory mechanism, it is a complex one. We need to look at the manufacturing, the processing, the transport, the wholesale practices and the retail practices. We need to have the respective places and countries certifying their products. And then obviously you have counterfeited products, products that have been smuggled. So, there are the whole set of issues involved in food safety. Obviously, I think we have some of the basic laws in place to require any substance that is sold for human consumption should be fit for human consumption. This is an overall, encompassing law that protects the public. But below that obviously there are specific laws relating to specific products, of course, these have to be updated over the time. So, the department will review all these issues and to see whether there is any existing legislation that needs to be updated to further strengthen the protection given to the public.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion)

Ends/Wednesday, May 5, 2004

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