The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) continued to work relentlessly in 2015 to uphold its commitment to safeguarding food safety and maintaining a clean and hygienic environment for the people of Hong Kong.

Food safety

Major food incident and regulation of online sale of food

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the FEHD is committed to protecting food safety by detecting and managing food incidents promptly. The outbreak of suspected food poisoning cases in relation to sandwiches made by a Taiwanese Company in July 2015 has aroused public concern over the adequacy of the existing food safety controls in addressing online shopping, which has become more popular in recent year. While promptly controlling the risks by imposing a ban on all relevant sandwiches from being imported into and sold in Hong Kong, we have since stepped up monitoring of online food sale activities to enhance food safety. Investigations and covert operations are conducted against unlicensed food business or suspicious food source with a view to initiating prosecution. Public education and publicity has also been enhanced to remind consumers of the safety tips for purchasing food online. To strengthen regulation of online food sale, we have prepared a new set of permits for operators selling "restricted foods" (such as chilled meat, sashimi, sushi and oysters to be eaten in raw state) online to ensure that the food products are obtained from lawful sources, not contaminated or tampered with during transportation, and stored at a safe and proper temperature at all times. We started to accept applications in the first quarter of 2016.

Import control of poultry eggs

The amended Imported Game, Meat, Poultry and Eggs Regulations (Cap. 132AK) came into effect from December 2015 to regulate the import of poultry eggs, with the aim of better protecting Hong Kong from the threat of avian influenza. Under the new regulatory arrangement, any person who imports poultry eggs into Hong Kong shall provide a health certificate issued from the place of origin to certify that the eggs are fit for human consumption. He is also required to obtain permission in writing from a health officer of FEHD after providing relevant information to the Department to facilitate tracking of importation and surveillance on the poultry eggs.

Formula products and prepackaged food for infants and young children

To better protect the health of infants and young children, the Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) (Amendment) (No 2) Regulation 2014 mandates nutrition labelling of infant formula, follow-up formula and pre-packaged food for infants and young children under the age of 36 months as well as regulates the nutritional composition of infant formula. The requirements on infant formula came into operation on 13 December 2015 while those on follow-up formula and pre-packaged food for infants and young children took effect in June 2016.

The Government also proposed to establish a regulatory framework to enhance the regulation of nutrition and health claims on formula products and prepackaged food for infants and young children, and completed a public consultation exercise in April 2015. We are in the course of formulating specific regulatory proposals taking into full account the views of different stakeholders.

Regulation of edible fats and oils and recycling of "waste cooking oils"

In view of the "substandard lard" incident which occurred in Taiwan in 2014 and to address public concern, the Government proposed to step up regulation of the safety of edible fats and oils and the recycling of "waste cooking oils" in Hong Kong, and consulted the public during July to October 2015. In working out specific details of the proposed regulation for safety of edible fats and oils, we will refer to the Codex Alimentarius Commission standards as the blueprint so that the regulatory framework would align with the international practices and meet the requirements of the World Trade Organization.

Food surveillance & risk assessment

The Food Surveillance Programme implemented by CFS in 2015 revealed that food safety in Hong Kong remained at a high standard. Besides radiation testing on more than 72,500 samples of imported food from Japan, CFS conducted tests on a total of about 64,300 food samples taken at the import, wholesale and retail levels in the past year. The overall satisfaction rate was 99.7%. Most unsatisfactory samples did not involve serious problems and would not cause adverse health effects to the general public.

During the past year, CFS also embarked on several risk assessment projects, namely: "Dietary Exposure to Non-Dioxin-Like Polychlorinated Biphenyls of Hong Kong Adult Population", "Microbiological Quality of Sushi and Sashimi in Hong Kong", "Nutrient Content of Children's Meals in Hong Kong" and "Sugars Content in Popular Chinese-style Non-alcoholic Beverages Consumed with Meals". Findings and recommendations of the risk assessment reports were disseminated to the public and the trade through various channels.

To further enhance control measures on food imports by sea, and to align such measures with those being applied to food imports by air and land, CFS has set up a Food Control Checkpoint for food imported by sea at Kwai Chung Customhouse to strengthen food safety. The checkpoint has commenced operation since the end of October, 2015.

Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food

In view of the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in Hong Kong, the Government considers it necessary to strengthen the work with respect to reduction in salt and sugar intake as this will reduce the chance of getting NCD. Apart from setting up a dedicated Facebook page in January 2015, CFS has launched a series of publicity activities under the theme "Hong Kong's Action on Salt and Sugar Reduction" to promote healthy eating with less salt and sugar. It also organised a two-day International Symposium on Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food in May last year for international experts and different stakeholders to exchange views on how to reduce the intake of salt and sugar in food. CFS also provided support to the work of the Committee on Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food upon its inception in March 2015.

WHO's first INFOSAN meeting in HK

CFS co-hosted with the World Health Organization (WHO) the "Meeting on Strengthening INFOSAN (International Food Safety Authorities Network) in Asia and National Food Safety Systems" in November 2015. The meeting was the first of its kind held in Hong Kong, with some 80 WHO's member countries and organisations represented to hold in-depth discussions and exchanges on various issues in relation to improving food safety in Asia. Subsequent to this event, another meeting with the WHO Collaborating Centres (WHOCC) for food safety based in the Western Pacific region was also held.

Environmental hygiene

Keep clean

The Government launched a two-month "Keep Clean 2015 @Hong Kong: Our Home" campaign in August last year, during which a good number of events were organised to promote the message of keeping Hong Kong clean. Efforts to improve environmental hygiene, such as cleansing and mosquito control work, had also been stepped up during the campaign. We will keep up our efforts to mobilise continued support from the community for keeping Hong Kong clean in collaboration with government bureaux, departments and the District Councils. The Government has established a platform for regular exchange of views with the environmental hygiene committees of the 18 District Councils after the campaign, so as to keep track of the latest environmental hygiene issues in each district and to review and adjust our strategies in a timely manner.

Management of on-street hawker stalls

In the past year, FEHD continued to actively take forward the five-year Hawker Assistance Scheme launched in 2013 for improving the fire safety and design of hawker stalls in 43 fixed-pitch hawker areas. As at December 2015, all 496 hawker stalls which were located directly in front of staircase discharge points of adjacent buildings, or obstructing the operation of fire engines or other emergency vehicular access have been duly relocated.

We, in collaboration with the Fire Services Department, are most honoured to be awarded the Gold Prize for the Partnership Award in the Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme 2015 for our winning project "Hawker Assistance Scheme in Fixed-pitch Hawker Areas to Enhance Fire Safety".

Improving operating environment of public markets

The consultant commissioned by the Government earlier provided in May 2015 a report which made recommendations on the functions and positioning of public markets as well as ways to improve their operating environment. The Government is actively following up on the improvement proposals for the markets under study in phases, with a view to enhancing their competitiveness. The proposals pursued will provide reference for future improvement to other public markets.

In addition, the Government has lowered the threshold of tenants' support for the retrofitting of air-conditioning systems in public markets from 85% to 80% with effect from 1 July 2015. With the support of the Market Management Consultative Committees, we conducted surveys to gauge the views of the tenants on the installation of air-conditioning systems in the markets concerned.

Enforcement actions against illegal extension of business area

FEHD has implemented new and enhanced regulatory measures and enforcement actions against illegal outside seating accommodation (OSA) by food premises. Among others, special task forces were set up to conduct daily operations against target food premises in blackspots of illegal OSA. With stringent enforcement actions, the extent of illegal OSA has receded significantly.

As part of the joint-departmental efforts to tackle the shop front obstruction problem, FEHD had been stepping up enforcement actions. Direct prosecutions were taken against habitual offenders in shop front extension blackspots without issuing prior warnings every time. Three Task Forces were also set up in June 2015 to tackle the problem. Furthermore, the Government gazetted the Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2015 on 31 December 2015 to introduce a fixed penalty system as an additional legal tool to tackle the problem of shop front extensions. The Legislative Council passed the Amendment Bill 2015 on 18 March 2016. The Ordinance will take effect on 24 September 2016.

Cremation and columbaria facilities

To meet the increasing demand for cremation service, the Department completed the reprovisioning of Cape Collinson Crematorium (Phase II) in December 2015, with the commissioning of six additional cremators and one service hall to increase capacity and efficiency.

To increase the supply of public niches, the Government has been actively promoting the district-based columbarium development scheme, under which 24 potential sites in 18 districts have been identified. In 2015, the Tuen Mun District Council, the North District Council and the Wan Chai District Council were consulted on the sites at Tsang Tsui, Wo Hop Shek Cemetery and Wong Nai Chung Road respectively. These three sites can provide a total of 204,855 new niches. Construction works for provision of columbarium facilities at Tsang Tsui has commenced. The Government will continue to consult the relevant District Councils on other new projects to expand the supply of public niches.

In the interest of sustainability, FEHD continues to proactively promote "green burial" to encourage the public to handle ashes of the deceased in a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable way, including scattering ashes in Gardens of Remembrance or at sea. We also continue to promote the Internet Memorial Service which facilitates the public in paying tribute to the deceased at any time from anywhere.

To address the long-standing problems caused by the operation of unauthorised private columbaria, the Government introduced the Private Columbaria Bill into the Legislative Council in 2014. Though we have worked closely with the Legislative Council in its scrutiny of the Bill, the Bill could not be passed by the fifth term of the Legislative Council. The Government will strive to re-activate the legislative exercise on the regulation of private columbaria as soon as the next term of the Legislative Council begins, with a view to having the relevant bill enacted as soon as possible.

The above provides a brief outline of our work in 2015. It was a year of mixed feelings, with progress and achievements, also challenges and difficulties. We were deeply saddened by the loss of a devoted and outstanding hawker control officer, Mr Wu Kwong-sum, who was injured whilst on duty and passed away on March 18 last year. We condemn the use of force against public officers in the execution of their duties. While the circumstances that may be encountered by front-line staff whilst on duty are not fully predictable, the Department has implemented various measures to enhance training and protection for them.

Finally, I would like to thank all colleagues for the great efforts they made over the year. In the year ahead, we will continue our pursuit of excellence and further improvement to deliver quality service.

 

Vivian Lau
Director
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department