Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ17: Food additives
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Lam Tai-fai and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today
(June 15):
Question:
It has been reported that a study conducted by the Department of Biology of the
Baptist University has discovered that over 90% of the blood samples from 200
Hong Kong people contain plasticiser, and some academics even suspected that
this was related to the recent discovery of carcinogenic additive plasticiser in
Taiwanese food products and drinks and believe that long-term consumption of
food products or drinks containing plasticiser by Hong Kong people has caused
their blood to contain toxic substances; and the incident has greatly undermined
public confidence in food products imported from Taiwan, thereby seriously
affecting the business of suppliers or retailers of Taiwanese food products or
drinks. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether the Government has planned to conduct a territory-wide study to find
out if the blood of all Hong Kong people contain substances of toxic food
additives such as plasticiser, etc.; if it has, of the details; if not, the
reasons for that;
(b) whether it had received complaints in the past three years about food
products or drinks in Hong Kong containing toxic additives; if it had, of the
details; if not, the reasons for that;
(c) whether it had taken the initiative to conduct sample tests on food products
or drinks for sale in the Hong Kong market in the past three years to ascertain
if they contained toxic addictives; if it had, of the details; if not, the
reasons for that;
(d) whether it will plan to extend the scope of testing to examine if imported
food products and drinks contain plasticiser; if it will, of the details; if
not, the reasons for that;
(e) whether it will introduce legislation to require imported food products or
drinks to label the types and quantities of additives contained in the products
so as to safeguard the right to know of members of the public; if it will, of
the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(f) whether it has liaised with the Taiwanese authorities to request for the
provision of more specific lists and sales information of local food products or
drinks found to contain toxic additives such as plasticiser, etc.; if it has, of
the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(g) given that the Taiwanese authorities have found that children's syrups used
in clinics have also been contaminated by plasticiser, whether the SAR
Government knows the market share of medicinal flavoured syrups imported
directly from Taiwan, and whether the Government had conducted sample tests on
such imported medicinal flavoured syrups in the past five years to ascertain if
they complied with food safety requirements; if it had, of the details; if not,
the reasons for that, and whether it has planned to conduct such tests;
(h) whether it has assessed the impact of this incident of Taiwanese problem
food products and drinks on the business of Hong Kong suppliers of imported food
products from Taiwan; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
and
(i) whether it has planned to educate members of the public to differentiate
between harmful and edible food additives and step up publicity on the impact of
food additives on health; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for
that?
Reply:
President,
After the announcement by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Taiwan on
May 23 that a plasticiser di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) had been detected in
16 samples of drinks at levels up to 34.1 parts per million (ppm), the Centre
for Food Safety (CFS) immediately followed up and conducted inspections at
retail outlets to see if the relevant Taiwanese food products were available in
our market. Based on the information provided by the Taiwanese authority, the
CFS has taken samples at the import, wholesale and retail levels for testing. In
the light of the test results and risk assessment, the Director of Food and
Environmental Hygiene, in exercise of his power under Section 78B of the Public
Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), made orders on May 30, June
1, June 8, June 9 and June 13 to prohibit the import of three specified sports
drinks, one specified brand of Konjac coconut jelly, a drink premix, a mango
syrup, a peach concentrated juice and fruit syrup of all flavours produced by a
certain manufacturer, and prohibit the supply of these food products within Hong
Kong. The orders also directed the trade (importers/distributors/retailers) to
complete the recall of these food products from the market in a specified manner
within a period of 30 days, unless the products were accompanied by a
certificate issued by the relevant Taiwanese authority certifying that the
levels of DEHP did not exceed 1.5 ppm or the levels of di-butyl phthalate (DBP)
do not exceed 0.3 ppm.
While DEHP has low acute oral toxicity, it was found to affect the liver and
kidney as well as the reproduction and development of experimental animals. The
International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that DEHP is possibly
carcinogenic to humans. Therefore, DEHP should not be added to food. However,
given that DEHP was found in Taiwanese food products, the CFS has specifically
included DEHP in the surveillance for the food products concerned and take
actions as appropriate to safeguard public health.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) DEHP is widely used as a plasticiser for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products.
PVC is used in various consumer products such as imitation leather, rainwear,
footwear, upholstery, flooring, wire and cable, tablecloths, shower curtains,
food packaging materials, medical equipment and children's toys. Trace amount of
DEHP may be present in food due to migration from food contact materials, or due
to its widespread presence as an environmental contaminant in air, water, soil
and food. Our exposure to DEHP is mainly through water and food.
At present, there are no internationally recognised testing methods and
standards to determine the level of plasticisers in human body. The World Health
Organization has not recommended any regional biomonitoring of the level of
plasticisers such as DEHP in human body. As far as we know, testing DEHP in
blood is not a common method to determine the level of plasticisers in human
body, since blood DEHP level could be subject to variation due to other factors.
There are also limited research studies on the use of blood samples for testing
the level of DEHP in human. In some large scale regional surveys, such as the
national studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in
the United States (US), urine test has been used to measure DEHP metabolites to
provide reference data for scientific researches. Although animal studies showed
possible health effects after long-term exposure to high dose DEHP, the US
survey results showed that finding a detectable amount of DEHP metabolites in
urine did not indicate an adverse health effect on human.
According to scientific literature, plasticisers have been detected in blood or
urine samples of most people in various parts of the world (e.g. US, Germany).
The Administration will continue to keep abreast of the relevant local and
international research results for follow-up action.
(b) In the past three years, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD)
has recorded a total of about 1 200 complaints relating to additives in food or
beverages, including non-permitted colouring matters, sweeteners or
preservatives. Upon investigation by the FEHD, 52 cases were found to be
substantiated. The FEHD initiated prosecutions in six cases with sufficient
evidence and issued 46 warning letters to the persons involved.
(c) The use of additives in food is regulated under the Colouring Matter in Food
Regulations (Cap. 132H), the Preservatives in Food Regulations (Cap. 132BD) and
the Sweeteners in Food Regulations (Cap. 132U), while chemicals in food are
regulated under the Harmful Substances in Food Regulations (Cap. 132AF), the
Food Adulteration (Metallic Contamination) Regulations (Cap. 132V) and the
Mineral Oil in Food Regulations (Cap. 132AR). Regarding those chemicals for
which there are no prescribed standards, the FEHD will make reference to
international standards, such as those of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, or
conduct risk assessment on the level of chemicals detected in tests. In
addition, Section 54 of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap.
132) provides that all food intended for human consumption for sale in Hong
Kong, whether imported or locally produced, must be fit for human consumption.
The CFS's routine food surveillance programme adopts a risk-based approach and
samples are taken at the import, wholesale and retail levels for testing,
including testing for additives regulated by law and others involved in food
incidents. The CFS will adjust the testing parameters under its routine
surveillance programme having regard to the testing and risk assessment results.
The food surveillance projects under the programme have also been endorsed by
the Expert Committee on Food Safety.
In the past three years, under the CFS's food surveillance programme, more than
13 800 food samples have been taken for chemical testing, including testing for
additives. The satisfactory rate of testing results was over 99%. Results on
unsatisfactory samples have been made known to the public.
(d) Before the adulteration of plasticisers in food was reported in Taiwan, the
related chemicals were not included in our routine surveillance. At present, the
targeted approach adopted by the CFS in monitoring, surveillance, sampling,
testing, risk assessment, control and communication on the plasticisers has far
exceeded the routine surveillance of any harmful substances in food in terms of
manpower and resources deployed. These intensified actions are expected to last
until such risk in food has been reduced to a reasonable level. In future, the
CFS will include plasticisers in its routine surveillance programme to monitor
those prepackaged food that may have used clouding agents in the manufacturing
process.
(e) According to Section 2(2) of Schedule 3 to the Food and Drugs (Composition
and Labelling) Regulations (Cap.132W), all prepackaged food sold in Hong Kong
must be legibly marked or labelled to provide the relevant information, such as
the name, the list of ingredients, the durability, and the count, weight or
volume of the food.
According to the above Regulations, the ingredients must be listed in descending
order of weight or volume determined as at the time of their use when the food
was packaged. An additive constituting one of the ingredients of a food must be
listed by its functional class and (a) its specific name; or (b) its
identification number under the International Numbering System for Food
Additives; or (c) its identification number under the International Numbering
System for Food Additives with the prefix "E" or "e".
(f) Since the onset of the incident, the CFS has been maintaining close liaison
with the Taiwanese authority and a contact person has been assigned specifically
for the incident to facilitate exchange of the latest information. Furthermore,
the CFS has maintained close liaison and met with the trade in Hong Kong to keep
them informed of the latest development in Taiwan and urge them to take the
initiative to suspend the sale of any drinks or food items that might be
affected by plasticisers and notify the CFS accordingly.
The CFS will take immediate action upon receipt of information concerning the
food affected. If any food product is found to be tainted with plasticisers, the
CFS will, in accordance with the existing legislation, prohibit the import and
supply of the food product concerned in Hong Kong and require the trade to
recall and dispose of the food product concerned as soon as possible and
publicise the information.
(g) Flavouring agents are not categorised as pharmaceutical products. However,
the addition of flavouring agents during the drug manufacturing process should
meet the requirements in relation to safety and quality standards of the "Good
Manufacturing Practice". At the initial stage of the plasticiser incident in
Taiwan, the Department of Health had immediately reminded the healthcare
professionals in writing that only the flavouring agents under pharmacopoeial
requirements were to be used in preparing drugs. According to the pharmacopoeia,
plasticisers shall not be added to flavouring agents as ingredients. Should any
flavouring agents from Taiwan be added to orally consumed drugs, importers
should prove that the drugs are free from DEHP or Diisononyl phthalate (DINP).
(h) In 2010, Taiwan was Hong Kong's fourth largest trading partner, with total
bilateral trade amounting to $293.4 billion, amongst which the value of imports
was $224.8 billion. According to the statistics in 2010, the value of fruit
juices, fruit jam/syrup, tea beverages, and edible products and preparations
imported from Taiwan was about $455 million, which accounted only for 0.2% of
total imports from Taiwan. As a wide range of food and beverage items may be
affected by the incident in question, it is difficult for us to assess the
impact on the trade flows between Hong Kong and Taiwan at this stage. However,
since Taiwan is not Hong Kong's main source of food and beverages imports, we
believe that the impact of the incident on the trade between Hong Kong and
Taiwan is limited.
After the incident, the Administration has contacted major trade and industrial
organisations to understand the impact of the incident on the food and catering
trade. Some restaurants and beverage retailers (including those which mainly
sell Taiwanese snacks and drinks) said that the incident had affected their
business to a certain extent. Separately, the operating cost of food suppliers
was said to have increased because some retailers required them to produce proof
that their products (irrespective of whether they were of Taiwan origin) did not
contain any plasticiser.
The Administration will continue to liaise with the trade and monitor the latest
development closely, and provide support to the trade as appropriate.
(i) Educating members of the public to differentiate between harmful and edible
food additives and enhancing their awareness of food hazards have formed a
crucial part of the CFS's routine education programmes. Through educational
materials such as leaflets, booklets as well as publicity channels such as CFS
website, periodicals, seminars and exhibitions, the CFS has introduced to
members of the public various food additives and taught them to read food labels
for the presence of additives. In recent years, the CFS has also strengthened
its publicity efforts by launching a monthly e-publication "Food Safety Focus",
which serves as a platform to introduce topics that cover holistically the
safety concern of food additives like preservatives, colouring matters and
sweeteners, etc. Such information is available on the following website:
www.cfs.gov.hk/english/multimedia/multimedia_pub/multimedia_pub_fsf.html .
In light of the recent public concern over food additives, the CFS will take a
more proactive approach in its publicity and education efforts, with a view to
enhancing public understanding of the issue.
Ends/Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Issued at HKT 14:58
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