Press Releases
Legislative proposals to further protect food safety
The Government will gazette tomorrow (May 20) the Food Safety Bill to
strengthen food safety control to protect public health.
A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said today (May 19): "The purpose
of the Bill is to introduce a food tracing mechanism to ensure that the
Government can trace the source of the food more effectively and take prompt
action when dealing with food incidents."
According to the Bill, any person who carries on a food importation or
distribution business has to register with the Director of Food and
Environmental Hygiene (DFEH). The registration procedure is simple and
convenient, requiring only the essential information from traders, including
the trader's particulars, contact details and the food type being imported
or distributed. Registration forms may be submitted either by paper or
electronic means. The registration will be valid for three years and subject
to renewal on a three-year basis. The fee level for registration and renewal
of registration will be $195 and $180 respectively.
"For food traders who have already registered or have obtained a licence
under other ordinances (e.g. food business licence holders), they will be
exempted from the registration requirement as the Government already
possesses their contact information," the spokesman added.
The registration scheme alone will not guarantee food traceability. The
Government has to further require food traders to maintain records of the
movement of their food. To this end, the Bill requires any person who, in
the course of business, imports, acquires or supplies by wholesale food in
Hong Kong to keep their transaction records.
As regards retailers, including catering businesses, they are required to
maintain food acquisition records only. The spokesman said: "Taking into
consideration the frequent transactions of the retail trade, we have
proposed such an arrangement. If we impose a mandatory requirement on retail
traders to keep sales records, it would entail a huge burden on them."
The Bill proposes that records be kept for a period of three months for live
aquatic products and food with a shelf-life of three months or less; or 24
months for food with a shelf-life over three months, such as canned food.
The DFEH will issue a Code of Practice on the record-keeping period of
different food types for reference by food traders.
The Government has conducted extensive consultations with the public and
traders on the Bill and received general support. To assess the implications
of the Bill on the trade, in particular the small and medium enterprise food
traders, the Food and Health Bureau appointed a consultant to conduct a
Business Impact Assessment. After an in-depth study, the consultant
considers that the legislative proposals are generally in line with overseas
practices and the implications of the Bill on the operating costs of the
trade would be minimal.
The spokesman said that after the commencement of the registration scheme,
there will be a grace period of six months before the relevant penalty
provisions for non-compliance take effect. This will allow sufficient time
for traders to adapt to the new requirement.
Furthermore, the Bill will empower the Secretary for Food and Health to make
regulations on import control for specific food types so as to regulate
high-risk foods. The Government proposes to extend the existing import
control to cover poultry eggs and aquatic products and is now consulting the
trade. Following the passage of the Bill, the Government will introduce the
relevant regulations into the Legislative Council.
Following the enactment of the amendment Ordinance in May 2009 to empower
the DFEH to make orders to prohibit the supply and import of problem food
and order the recall of such food, the Bill is a measure to further protect
food safety.
The Bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council on June 2.
Ends/Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Issued at HKT 17:02
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