Press Releases
International symposium brings together food safety experts (with photos)
As an international city, Hong Kong should be so not only on the financial and
economic fronts, but also on the food safety one, the Secretary for Health,
Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, said today (January 12).
He made the remark when officiating at the opening ceremony of the International
Symposium on Food Safety organised by the Centre for Food Safety (CFS).
"The staging of the symposium underlines both the importance we place on food
safety and our determination to keep an international outlook on this important
issue.
"We have been emphasising a participatory approach to food safety for various
sectors of the community, and this symposium is a good opportunity for our local
practitioners to keep abreast with the latest international developments."
Carrying the theme, "Food Safety in the New Era", the Symposium aimed to provide
a forum for local, Mainland and overseas food safety practitioners from the
regulators, academia, trade and consumers, to update each other on the latest
developments and to share experiences in food safety management and control, as
well as to foster partnership and collaboration.
He noted that food safety was assuming increasing importance in the public arena
worldwide. Food safety agencies, the food trade and the public were facing
unprecedented changes in the food safety environment.
"Food regulators, at both national and international levels, are facing many
challenges," Dr Chow said.
The challenges included: the demand of the public for expeditious response to
food incidents; finding ways and means to prevent or detect non-compliance in
food quality or food hazards; and continuously reviewing and updating food
standards to catch up with the latest international developments.
Dr Chow said that to protect public health, Hong Kong pursued a vigorous food
surveillance programme and conducted tests on over 60,000 food samples each
year.
He pointed out that consumer education on food safety was also of utmost
importance.
"On the one hand, we need to increase consumers' awareness of food safety, but
on the other, we also need to be cautious in order not to make people overreact
to food incidents," he stressed.
Also officiating at the opening ceremony were the Director-General of the Import
and Export Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China, Mr Li
Yuanping; and the Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Dr Claude JS
Mosha.
Today's ceremony also marked the official opening of the CFS.
Dr Chow and the Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food (Food and
Environmental Hygiene), Mrs Carrie Yau, also met with Mainland and overseas
speakers in the afternoon to exchange views on Hong Kong's food safety regime
and discuss international trends on food safety management and control.
Ends/Friday, January 12, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:42
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