192 | Food Safety, Environmental Hygiene, Agriculture and Fisheries
Public Education
The FEHD runs a Health Education Exhibition and Resource Centre in Kowloon Park in Tsim Sha Tsui, and a Communication Resource Unit at the Fa Yuen Street Municipal Services Building in Mong Kok to promote food safety and environmental hygiene.
During the year, 2 799 health talks were given to the general public and various target groups, including food handlers, school children, the elderly and ethnic minorities. A vehicle was also used as a mobile education centre to hammer home the message about food safety and environmental hygiene. The vehicle was revamped in 2010 to introduce more interactive and multi-media features.
The CFS invited food trade associations and licensed food premises to be signatories to a Food Safety Charter 2010-11 on good food safety practices. A total of 21 food trade associations and over 2 000 food premises and retail outlets signed the charter.
The CFS continued its publicity and education campaign on nutrition labelling to prepare the public for the new Nutrition Labelling Scheme which came into force in July 2010. A wide range of communication tools were used to enhance public understanding of nutrition labelling and to motivate them to use the nutrition information on the labels to make informed food choices.
Primary Production
Hong Kong's agriculture and fisheries industries are relatively small. They do not receive Government subsidies, but are assisted by the Government in improving the quality of their output, their productivity and competitiveness.
The combined output of the two industries in 2010 was worth $2.9 billion. Vegetables accounted for 3 per cent; cut flowers, 34 per cent; live pigs, 6 per cent; live poultry, 61 per cent; freshwater fish, 4 per cent; and local seafood, 26 per cent. Some 16 300 people were employed directly in these industries in 2010.
Agricultural Industry
Hong Kong's agricultural industry focuses mainly on producing quality fresh food crops through intensive land use. Farming is done mostly in the New Territories, but only 2 per cent of New Territories land is being used for growing crops, comprising mainly vegetables and cut flowers. Their combined output in 2010 was valued at about $223 million. Pigs and poultry are the principal food animals reared. In 2010, locally reared pigs earned about $176 million, while poultry, including chickens and chicken eggs, earned about $207 million.
To stay in business, Hong Kong's agricultural industry has to adapt to fast changing market trends as it is constrained by the limited supply of farm land and labour, competition from imports, high cost of maintaining environmental standards and calls for improved farm hygiene and safe produce.