HEALTH
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Kong. Food commodities, especially those from Europe, continue to be monitored for possible radioactive contamination arising from the Chernobyl reactor accident.
The growing number of food establishments and the quantities and varieties of food items available on the local market have increased the importance of law enforcement. Parallel to this is the increasing demand for services for health certification of foods for export and re-export to foreign countries and territories.
The review of food legislation has been an on-going exercise to keep abreast with international developments in food standards. During the year, the Imported Meat and Poultry Regulations were amended to impose control on imported game and to provide for upgraded control on imported meat and poultry, the Food Adulteration (Artificial Sweeteners) Regulations were updated to harmonise with the World Health Organisation's recommendations on the acceptance of artificial sweeteners, and the Milk (Regional Council) By-laws and Milk (Urban Council) By-laws were amended to improve control on the transportation of milk and milk beverages.
Externally, Hong Kong maintains close ties with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and other international authorita- tive bodies on food science and technology. As the bulk of the local food supply comes from the mainland, Hong Kong has been working hand in hand with the Chinese authorities towards promoting food safety.
- Markets
The Urban Council operates 60 retail markets in urban areas. A total of 9 102 stalls are provided in these markets offering a choice of commodities ranging from fresh food to household items and a wide range of clothing.
Where feasible, old and outdated markets have been replaced by multi-purpose com- plexes with new markets and cooked food centres accommodated on the lower floors. On the upper floors, these complexes provide a variety of amenities for indoor sports activities, educational, cultural and recreational pursuits. There are 13 such multi-purpose complexes in the Urban Council areas.
New markets with cooked food centres are purpose-built, upon establishing demand and a role for them in the District Plan. They have been built to meet consumer demand in the areas in which they are situated rather than meeting hawker resiting commitments. This approach, together with other improvements in design, has been adopted in planning and building in order to provide more viable markets and a better environment for stall-holders and the buying public.
The Regional Council is responsible for the management of public markets in its region. There are 46 public markets with a total of 4956 market stalls and 386 cooked food stalls under its management. Three new markets, located at Plover Cove Road in Tai Po, Hop Yick Road in Yuen Long and Cheung Chau Market in Cheung Chau, will be commissioned in 1990, providing an additional 978 market stalls.
Hawkers
The Urban Council is responsible for the licensing of street hawkers in the urban areas and its general duties teams enforce hawker control legislation. By end-December 1989, there were 15 201 hawker licences issued, 2 057 less than in 1988. The continued efforts of the council to move on-street hawkers into newly-completed markets was a significant factor in this reduction. In April, for example, some 600 licensed hawkers were resited and re- ordered in conjunction with the commissioning of the Fa Yuen Street Market. There has