154
HEALTH
also made to educate special target groups, including immigrants from China and Filipina maids, through mobile broadcasting.
Food
For the protection of public health, the food section of the Urban Services Department continued to ensure that food for sale, whether imported or locally produced, was hygienic and safe for human consumption. The ever increasing quantities and varieties of food items on sale have added weight to the importance of law enforcement including regular monitoring of standards of food hygiene and safety, and systematic inspection and sampling of food products for laboratory examination. The section also continued to liaise with the World Health Organisation and other bodies to keep Hong Kong abreast of international developments in food science and toxicological evaluation so as to benefit and protect local food traders and consumers. Consequently, the Preservatives in Food Regulations were completely revised.
Markets
In the urban areas of Hong Kong and Kowloon, the Urban Council runs 54 public retail markets with more than 7 500 stalls selling different commodities ranging from fresh foodstuffs such as meat, poultry, vegetables and fruits, to general merchandise such as clothing, household goods and other daily necessities. The commodities available for sale in public markets have diversified over the years with the increase in the number of on-street hawkers being moved into market buildings. A cooked food centre is now a standard facility in modern market complexes.
Many public markets are still located in old buildings and it is the policy of the Urban Council to redevelop these into modern multi-purpose complexes which besides markets also provide other community facilities such as rest gardens, games halls, libraries and auditoria for the performing arts. During the year, two such complexes – at Sai Wan Ho and To Kwa Wan - were completed. In addition, the Chai Wan Temporary Market and the Kowloon City Temporary Market were built in preparation for the construction of complexes on the sites of the old markets.
To meet the demand for lunch facilities for the industrial workforce in Kwun Tong District, two cooked food centres with 84 stalls, located in Tsun Yip Street and Kwun Tong Ferry Concourse, began operation. The Woosung Street Cooked Food Bazaar in Yau Ma Tei also opened.
In the New Territories, the government runs 44 public markets outside public housing estates with accommodation for more than 5 500 stallholders. Seven new markets were completed during the year, providing an additional 1 600 stalls.
Hawkers
The Urban Council is responsible for the management and control of hawkers in the urban areas while in the New Territories the New Territories Services Department undertakes this work. In 1984, there were 30 900 licensed hawkers throughout the territory, a decline of 2 800 compared with 1983. This reduction was the result of continuing efforts to move on-street hawkers into markets and also of the ex gratia payment scheme in the urban areas under which 307 on-street cooked food stall operators voluntarily surrendered their hawker licenses in return for a payment of $36,000 each.
The number of unlicensed hawkers tends to fluctuate from year to year, but it was estimated that there were 19 000 in 1984. Under the control of district urban services