The FEHD is the licensing authority for food businesses and certain trades in Hong Kong.
Licensing
Restaurants, food factories, fresh provision shops, bakeries, factory canteens, siu mei and lo mei shops, frozen confection factories, milk factories and cold stores are required to obtain licences from the Department. The FEHD also issues permits for the sale of restricted foods, such as frozen confections, milk, non-bottled drinks, Chinese herb tea, cut fruit, sushi and sashimi, oysters and meat to be eaten raw, food sold from vending machines, and for operating karaoke establishments in restaurants.
Licences are only issued to food premises which conform to hygiene requirements and safety standards prescribed by the departments concerned.
Trade licences are required for operating places of public entertainment (including theatres, cinemas and entertainment machine centres), commercial bathhouses, private swimming pools, funeral parlours, undertaker businesses, slaughterhouses and offensive trades.
Provisional Licences
To facilitate the setting up of food businesses, the Department operates a provisional licence system. Premises that satisfy all essential health, building and fire safety requirements are issued with a provisional licence valid for six months, during which the licensee has to complete all outstanding requirements for the issue of a full licence.
In 2008, the Department received 3,014 applications for provisional food business licences and 2,089 were issued. An applicant can obtain a provisional licence from the Licence Issuing Office within one working day if all the essential licensing requirements are met.
Licences Processed and Issued
Licence applications are handled by three licensing offices located on Hong Kong Island, and in Kowloon and the New Territories.
Food business licence applications received and processed during the year totalled 3,089 (including
1,358 for restaurant licences). In addition, there were 827 applications for restricted food permits, 1,133 applications for places of public entertainment licences, and 43 applications for other trade licences.
The Department also licensed four cinemas, one theatre, six entertainment machine centres, one commercial bathhouse and 26 private swimming pools .
Liquor Licences
To sell liquor for consumption on the premises, a licence is required from the Liquor Licensing Board, an independent statutory body.
Staff from the Department provide executive and secretarial support to the Board, which normally meets once a week to deal with contested cases. In exercising its statutory powers, the Board regularly reviews the policy governing the issue of liquor licences and the control of licensed premises.
During the year, 856 applications for liquor and club liquor licences were received and 789 new licences were granted. Some 5,115 liquor and club liquor licences were renewed.
The Board regularly arranges seminars on liquor licensing to enable applicants and licensees to update their knowledge of the legal liabilities and responsibilities for the proper management of their premises. During the year, 12 such sessions were organised for 593 liquor licence applicants and licensees .
Inspections
Health inspectors perform regular inspections on licensed food premises to ensure licence holders comply with licensing requirements and conditions as well as hygiene standards prescribed under the law. In addition to routine inspections, supervisory inspections are conducted by senior officers. Premises issued with trade licences, such as cinemas, commercial bathhouses and private swimming pools, are also regularly checked.
The Department adopts a Risk-based Inspection System to regulate licensed food premises. Inspection frequencies vary according to the risk and hygiene standards of licensed food premises. Inspections focus on food safety and health education, in addition to general sanitary conditions.
Law Enforcement
Food business operators who breach public health laws face prosecution. Under the Demerit Points System, they also bear the risk of licence suspension or cancellation if they breach the law persistently. Under the Warning Letter System, licences may be cancelled as a result of repeated breaches of licensing requirements or conditions.
The Department also cracks down on unlicensed food businesses by taking out prosecution and, for persistent offenders, by summary arrest and applying to court for closure of their premises. In 2008, one closure order was granted and executed to close an unlicensed food premises.
The Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance provides an effective mechanism to close food premises which pose an immediate health hazard to the public. In 2008, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene exercised his statutory power and issued three closure orders against premises where there were outbreaks of food poisoning.
Statistics on Enforcement Actions against Licensed and Unlicensed Food Premises in 2008
| Licensed food premises | |
|---|---|
| No. of licensed food premises | 20,040 |
| No. of inspections | 202,494 |
| No. of prosecutions | 3,938 |
| No. of licence suspensions | 219 |
| No. of licence cancellations | 17 |
| Unlicensed food premises | |
| No. of prosecutions | 2,262 |
| Closure of food premises | |
| No. of Closure Orders granted | 4 |
Hygiene Manager / Hygiene Supervisor Scheme
The Hygiene Manager (HM) and Hygiene Supervisor (HS) Scheme seeks to strengthen food safety supervision in food premises. Under the Scheme, all large food establishments and food establishments producing high-risk food are required to appoint an HM and an HS. All other food establishments are required to appoint either an HM or an HS. There are a number of local academic institutions and vocational training centres offering HM or HS courses that are recognised by the Department. The duration of an HM course is about 16-20 hours and that of an HS course is about six hours. The Department has been providing free HS training courses for supervisory staff of licensed food premises since December 2001. By the end of 2008, it has provided a total of 1,313 courses for 59,986 HSs, while 21,091 HMs were trained by academic institutions and vocational training centres.
Slaughterhouses
Hong Kong's fresh meat (beef, pork and mutton) is supplied by three slaughterhouses in Sheung Shui, Tsuen Wan and Cheung Chau. Apart from monitoring the operation of the licensed slaughterhouses to ensure hygiene and environmental standards are met, the Department also combats illegal slaughtering activities.
To protect public health, all food animals admitted to licensed slaughterhouses are subject to both ante-mortem and post-mortem inspections. These ensure that meat is fit for human consumption before being released for sale in the markets. During the year, the Department mounted 300 raids and surveillance operations on suspected illegal slaughterhouses. A total of 7,168 surprise visits to fresh provision shops and meat stalls were also made to prevent the sale of meat from non-approved sources.
The Department also keeps a close watch on the malpractice of selling chilled meat as fresh meat. As a result, the licences of two fresh provision shops were cancelled.