Press Releases

Government continues to follow up on incident of urine samples from imported pigs detected with veterinary drug residues

The Government has, since the urine samples from imported pigs were detected with residues of veterinary drug beta-agonists last week, strengthened the monitoring of the slaughterhouse's operation to ensure that the pork now for sale on the market has passed through the stringent inspection and surveillance of the relevant Government departments. Members of the public may rest assured that the pork being released to the market is fit for human consumption. The Government would endeavor to complete the investigations surrounding the incident and the review of the slaughterhouse’s operation next week in response to the concerns of the trade and members of the public.

A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau (FHB) said today (August 8), "Although the investigation is still ongoing, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has already strengthened the monitoring of the slaughterhouse's operation, including ensuring that the pigs are slaughtered and released only after they have passed the veterinary drug tests conducted by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD). We believe that the strengthened surveillance would help forestall release to the market of pigs that do not pass the drug tests. Hong Kong has imported more than seven million live pigs from the Mainland over the past five years. The last time that residues of beta-agonists were detected in urine samples from live pigs imported from the Mainland was in 2012.

"We apologise for failing to prevent the pork in question from reaching the market. Concerned retail outlets sold the pork unknowingly. To guard against similar incidents in future, the relevant departments have enhanced their vigilance in the interest of effective performance of their gatekeeping role. Should any unusual circumstances come to light during the inspection or slaughtering process, FEHD’s frontline staff would immediately draw them to the attention of officers at management level for appropriate follow-up. The operation of the slaughterhouse has been generally smooth over the past three days.

“In accordance with the Food Safety Ordinance (Cap 612) , food distributors are required to keep the transaction records of the food supplied by them to ensure that the source of all the food on sale can be traced. In addition, we will explore with the Mainland authority the feasibility of increasing the frequency of inspection of the Mainland registered farms supplying live pigs to Hong Kong, so as to step up the surveillance of the live pigs supplied."

The spokesman reiterated that the list of retail outlets named was based on information kept and provided by the slaughterhouse operator. FEHD will further verify with the operator the accuracy of the relevant information, and follow up with the concerned retail outlets. The Government will duly consider the question of compensation.

FHB and FEHD today met with some members of the Legislative Council and representatives of certain segments of the trade, during which suggestions were made on the work flow of the slaughterhouse.

“We will thoroughly consider the suggestions made by representatives of the trade at the meeting. As the suggestions may affect other stakeholders in the live pig supply chain, we plan to convene a special meeting next week to consult all relevant stakeholders,” the spokesman said.

FEHD announced last Friday that urine samples of a certain number of pigs imported from the Mainland were found to contain residues of beta-agonists (Salbutamol) in the first round of test conducted by AFCD on the day before. On that day, AFCD’s veterinary laboratory in the slaughterhouse immediately conducted tests after receiving urine samples of pigs collected and delivered by the staff of FEHD. When the test results were available, AFCD, in accordance with the established mechanism, notified FHED at around 10pm that the affected batch of pigs failed to pass the test and that further testing was required. The notification on that day was made at a time no different from that applicable on other days.

A total of about 2 200 kg of pork and pig offal were marked and sealed while about 1 300 kg of pork and pig offal were voluntarily surrendered by the concerned retailers. All the pork and pig offal concerned have been disposed of. The Centre for Food Safety of FEHD has notified the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the test results. The Mainland authority has taken the initiative to suspend export of all live pigs from Jiangxi Province to Hong Kong.

Ends/Monday, August 8, 2016
Issued at HKT 23:31
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