Press Releases

Government concerned about food safety of vegetables imported from Mainland

A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said today (September 30) that the Government attached great importance to the food safety of the vegetables imported from the Mainland.

The spokesman said the Government had all along been conducting inspections at various levels, including import, wholesale and retail levels, to ensure that all the imported vegetables were up to the safety standards.

"Surveillance data has so far indicated no food safety problem with the vegetables imported from the Mainland," the spokesman added.

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) conducts strict inspection on imported vegetables and has strengthened its relevant measures in the past year. From 2007 to July this year, CFS has taken 32,900 vegetables samples at the Man Kam To checkpoint for tests of pesticide residues. The passing rate of the test results is 99.9 per cent.

According to the information from the Department of Health, no cases of food poisoning caused by pesticide residues were found in the past four years.

On the vegetable traders' allegations of import of vegetables from improper sources into Hong Kong under the disguise of a proper label, the spokesman said: "We have informed the Mainland authorities of the incident concerned.

"Expressing concerns, Mainland's inspection and quarantine authorities told us that they have adopted a stringent regulatory regime governing the supply of vegetables to Hong Kong. If there is any indication that registered farms or processing plants had violated regulations, the authorities would investigate and follow up on the matter according to the law," he said.

"The Customs and Excise Department and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department have been keeping close liaison and have from time to time conducted joint operations at Man Kam To control point. The two departments will step up their inspection on trucks transporting vegetables. CFS will also strengthen inspection in collaboration with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department," the spokesman added.








Ends/Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Issued at HKT 17:37

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