Question No. 10
Reply by the Hon. E.P. Ho, CBE, JP,
Secretary for Trade and Industry,
to a question by the Hon. K.C. Chan, OBE, JP
in Legislative Council on 7 August 1985
Question:
Would Government make a statement on the "poisoned" wine incident and whether existing legislation and administrative procedures are adequate in protecting consumers from poisonous alcoholic beverages?
Sir,
Following the discovery in Germany of a toxic
substance, diethylene glycol, in certain Austrian table
wines the Customs Service immediately collected samples
of all available brands of such wines for testing.
131 samples have so far been collected and sent to the
Government Laboratory. Tests on 104 samples have been
completed, 16 of which have been certified to contain
diethylene glycol.
2.
In the light of the Government Chemist's tests,
the Customs Service publicised the names of those brands
found to contain the toxic substance and warned the public
of the danger to health of drinking these adulterated wines.
The trade has cooperated fully and up till yesterday 1,657
bottles of suspect Austrian wines have been surrendered
for forfeiture.
/3.
Any person