The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) went through another challenging year in 2014 in its efforts to safeguard food safety and maintain a clean and hygienic environment for the people of Hong Kong.

Food safety

Major food incidents

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Department is committed to maintaining a comprehensive system to detect, manage and review food incidents in a timely manner. Last year two major food incidents, namely the allegedly poor quality of meat products from Shanghai Husi Food Company and the substandard lard products from Taiwan, attracted much media attention and sparked deep concern among the public about the safety of cooked meat and edible oil. In both incidents, the CFS promptly initiated investigations, maintained close contact with the relevant authorities and devised appropriate control actions. To allay public concern, the Government has decided to strengthen regulation of the safety of edible oil and the recycling of waste cooking oil in Hong Kong and will seek public views on the proposals. As regards the regulation of cooked meat, we are currently reviewing the relevant legislation and will consult the public on the issue.

Surveillance against avian influenza

Since the occurrence of H7N9 avian influenza (AI) cases on the Mainland, Hong Kong has been on high alert and taking measures to prevent the spread of the virus. To strengthen early warning against AI infection in imported live poultry, we have since April 2013 introduced the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests for H7 AI, and since January 2014 introduced the H7 serological tests on top of the then existing tests for H5 AI. Last year, Hong Kong detected H7 AI virus in imported live poultry in January and December. The two cases demonstrate that the existing testing system has achieved what it is designed to do, namely reducing the risk of infected poultry entering our retail markets. We will continue to update our risk assessment from time to time, keep close contact with the relevant inspection and quarantine authorities, and strengthen the preventive and surveillance measures when necessary.

Nutrition labelling

The Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulation 2014 was endorsed by the Legislative Council in October last year. The regulation seeks to mandate nutrition labelling of infant formula, follow-up formula and prepackaged food for infants and young children (IYC food) under the age of 36 months as well as regulate the nutritional composition of infant formula. CFS has started preparatory work for the enforcement of the regulation, which will come into force in December 2015 (after a grace period of 18 months) for infant formula and in June 2016 (after a grace period of 24 months) for follow-up formula and prepackaged IYC foods.

Food surveillance

Food surveillance and risk assessment are key components of our food safety strategies. CFS' Food Surveillance Programme monitors food on sale at the import, wholesale and retail levels to ensure its compliance with legal requirements and fitness for human consumption. In 2014, CFS conducted tests on a total of about 64,100 food samples (in addition to some 61,500 samples of imported Japanese food taken for radiation testing) and the overall satisfaction rate was 99.8%, which indicated that food safety was maintained at a high standard in Hong Kong.

During the past year, CFS also released reports on a number of seasonal food and targeted food surveillance projects. It also embarked on several risk assessment studies, including the "Study on Microbiological Quality of Sushi and Sashimi in Hong Kong", "Dietary Exposure to Non-Dioxin Like Polychlorinated Biphenyls of Hong Kong Adult Population", "Salmonella in Food Commonly Containing Raw or Lightly Cooked Eggs" and "Nutritional Quality of Children's Meals in Hong Kong". The First Hong Kong Total Diet Study was also completed with the release of the last two reports on organochlorine pesticide residues and minerals.

The Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation (Cap. 132CM) came into effect on August 1 last year. By the end of 2014, CFS completed pesticide residue test for about 10,700 food samples collected at the import, wholesale and retail levels. Of these, 39 samples were found to be unsatisfactory. The overall satisfactory rate was higher than 99.6%

Risk communication

CFS endeavours to enhance communication and interaction with the public and the trade. A mobile application on "Food Safety" was launched in April 2014 to help people on the move keep abreast of the latest news and information on food safety. To enhance promotion of food safety messages, a series of publicity activities under the theme "Safe and Smart Ways to Cook" were launched to promote safer cooking methods. A variety of activities was also held to promote the Nutrition Labelling Scheme.

The 46th Session of Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA), attended by representatives from more than 80 countries and organisations, was successfully held in Hong Kong in March last year. It was the first Codex meeting held in Hong Kong since China served as the host country of CCFA in 2006. CFS assisted the CCFA secretariat to organise the meeting in Hong Kong.

Environmental hygiene

Illegal extension of business area

On the front of environmental hygiene, the Department set up two teams of Food Business Extension Control Task Force (TF) in June last year to tackle environmental nuisance caused by illegal outside seating accommodation (OSA) of food premises. The two TF teams were deployed to Yuen Long District where the problem of illegal OSA was extensive. With enforcement action taken by the teams since June 2014, the extent of illegal OSA there has receded significantly.

The Ombudsman issued a report on "Direct Investigation into Regulatory Measures and Enforcement Actions against Street Obstruction by Shops" in June 2014. Amongst the recommendations given to relevant departments, the Ombudsman recommended FEHD to prosecute habitual offenders immediately without issuing prior warning; step up efforts to take out prosecution and seizure under the "illegal hawking provision" for stronger deterrent effect; and take strict enforcement action against those shops which extend their business area beyond the "tolerated areas". The Department has taken on board the Ombudsman's recommendations, and adjusted its enforcement strategy accordingly.

Management of on-street hawker stalls

In the past year, we continued to take forward the five-year Assistance Scheme for Hawkers in Fixed-pitch Hawker Areas, which was launched in 2013 to improve the fire safety and operating environment of some 4,300 on-street stalls in 43 hawker areas. As at December 2014, all 498 hawkers who need to have their stalls relocated due to fire safety concerns have either reached consensus with FEHD on the relocation arrangements or applied for voluntary surrender of their licences.

Improving operating environment of public markets

The Government has commissioned a consultant to assist in developing proposals for improving the operating environment of public markets, thereby enabling them to fulfil the functions expected of them in present-day circumstances. The consultant will recommend ways to improve the physical, non-physical and management aspects of public markets. We will study the consultant's recommendations in mapping out the way forward for improving the operating environment of public markets, taking into account relevant factors such as the actual situation of individual markets, views of the stakeholders and resource availability.

Disposal of human ashes

To cater for the growing demand for columbaria from the public, the Government has adopted a three-pronged approach namely, increasing the supply of public niches, promoting green burials and regulating private columbaria. In 2014, a total of about 25,000 new niches at Wo Hop Shek, Diamond Hill and Cheung Chau were opened for public allocation. We continued to seek the support of relevant District Councils for the development of columbarium under the district-based columbarium development scheme. In 2014, we consulted the North District Council and the Eastern District Council on the sites at Sandy Ridge and Chai Wan respectively. Together, these two sites can provide a total of about 225,000 new niches.

To encourage the public to better utilise existing resources to meet public demand, FEHD has also, with effect from January 2014, relaxed the arrangement of placing additional sets of ashes into public niches, including relaxing the definition of "close relative" in determining the eligibility for co-location of ashes, and removing altogether any restriction over the sets of ashes to be placed in a public niche.

In the interest of sustainability, the Government is taking active steps to promote "green burial" by encouraging the public to use a more environmental-friendly and sustainable way for handling ashes, including scattering ashes in Gardens of Remembrance or at sea. We also continue to promote the Internet Memorial Service (IMS), facilitating the public in paying tribute to the deceased at any time and from anywhere. The service of IMS has been extended basically to all Hong Kong residents who were deposited in private cemeteries or whose ashes were interred in private columbaria in Hong Kong.

To address some long-standing issues related to the operation of unauthorised private columbaria, the Government introduced the Private Columbaria Bill into the Legislative Council on 25 June 2014. Through the Bill, we propose the introduction of a licensing scheme for the purpose of ensuring that private columbaria are operating in compliance with statutory and Government requirements, enhancing protection of consumer interests and promoting the sustainable development of the industry.

Mosquito control

In response to three local cases of dengue fever recorded in the last quarter of 2014 since the last report in 2010, we deployed additional roving teams to sustain the efforts in mosquito control throughout the winter months. Publicity was also stepped up to remind the public of the importance of mosquito control work in all seasons.

The above is a brief outline of our work last year. In 2015, we will continue to strive for excellence with professionalism in delivering quality services to the public in respect of ensuring food safety and environmental hygiene.

 

Vivian Lau
Director
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department