Press Releases
Reorganisation plan for food safety regulatory framework proposed
The Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, today (October 17)
briefed the Legislative Council's Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene
on the Government's plan to re-organise the food safety regulatory framework
with a view to implementing it on or around April 1, 2006.
The plan to reorganise the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) and
the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) to enhance food
safety and veterinary public health control in Hong Kong as well as pooling our
resources for more effective control along the whole food supply chain to ensure
food safety, Dr Chow said.
At the level of executive departments, the Government would reorganise the FEHD
and AFCD to form the Food Safety, Inspection and Quarantine Department (FSIQD)
and the Agriculture, Environmental Hygiene and Conservation Department (AEHCD).
The reorganisation would allow the transfer of all functions concerning food
safety, veterinary public health, inspection, quarantine and regulation over
animals and plants, vegetables, fresh-water fish for food purposes, seafood and
food products, as well as control over local livestock and poultry farms and
mariculture farms, etc, from the two departments to the new FSIQD.
Five branches under the FSIQD are proposed to undertake matters related to food
safety and veterinary public health, namely food surveillance and control
branch, risk assessment and communication branch, licensing and inspection
branch, veterinary public health and quarantine branch, and strategy and
administration branch.
More staff would be allocated to the new FSIQD to enhance the regulation and
inspection of local livestock and poultry farms, vegetable farms and mariculture
farms. To exercise control at source, several special teams with
interdisciplinary expertise would also be set up to step up inspection of
registered farms, processing plants and fish ponds in the Mainland and
facilitate the same efforts in other countries supplying food to Hong Kong.
The FSIQD would also enhance food surveillance efforts at the import, wholesale
and retail levels to assure that food products supplied by the Mainland and
overseas countries would be safe to consume.
A Centre for Food Safety (CFS) within FSIQD and a post of Controller, Centre for
Food Safety with professional knowledge and experience in public health and food
safety would be established. The Controller would oversee the daily operation
and management of the CFS, identify objectives and formulate strategies on food
safety.
After the reorganisation, the other new department, AEHCD, would be responsible
for the development of the agriculture and fisheries industry, to maintain
environmental hygiene and conserve nature.
Under the proposal, the director posts of both FSIQD and AEHCD would be taken up
by directorate officers at D6 level while the Controller of CSF would be taken
up by a directorate officer at D4 level.
At the policy bureau level, an additional post of permanent secretary at D8
level in the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau (HWFB) would be created to cope
with the enhanced functions over food safety of the newly established FSIQD.
Dr Chow pointed out that at present, the HWFB has only one permanent secretary
at D8 level to oversee policy areas of different natures where the use of huge
amount of resources was involved.
"Given that each of our policy areas deals with important livelihood issues of
public concern, it is necessary to create an additional post of permanent
secretary responsible for the work on food safety and environmental hygiene, and
also management of the newly established FSIQD and AEHCD as well as the
Government Laboratory.
"The existing permanent secretary will focus on policy portfolios in respect of
medical and health and social welfare," he said.
In addition, the Government would expand and strengthen the existing
consultative framework on food safety.
"In the near future, we plan to set up a Food Standards Review Committee
consisting of experts and academics to enhance the formulation and review of
food safety standards," he added.
Ends/Monday, October 17, 2005
Issued at HKT 11:30