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MR. LI: May I ask another supplementary question, Mr. Chairman? In cases where quantities of preservatives used have been found to be in excess of those permitted by the law, what action can be taken by this Council?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: The offenders, Mr. Chairman, can be prosecuted under the Preservatives in Food Regulations.
MR. LI: Sir, I rise on a point of explanation. I have asked this question because more and more people in Hong Kong are eating more and more tinned food as a result of the shortage of domestic servants. (Laughter)
MR. BERNACCHI: I rise, Mr. Chairman, to ask a supplementary more out of interest than anything else. The Chairman of the Food and Food Premises Select Committee says in his answer "the use of chemical preservatives in tinned products is seldom necessary, since the process of canning usually involves heat treatment which is in itself a form of food preservation". I know that, for instance, when you boil raw meat it is preserved for longer; it is preserved for a day or two longer than if you leave it as raw meat. But presumably in the tins the preservation is for months on end, if not years. By what means is the heat treatment a form of food preservation for months or years, as opposed to days?
CHAIRMAN: Mr. WONG, do you know? (Laughter)
MR. WONG: I think the Vice-Chairman was going to stand up and answer that. If the Vice-Chairman will not, I will endeavour to do so.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: Please do so.
MR. WONG: Well, I am not a registered medical doctor (Laughter). But I know that any temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit constitutes sterilization for a period, and when the temperature reaches 145 degrees this is of course the pasteurization stage. In the heat treatment that is taken in the process of canning, 212 degrees is used and reached. Therefore bacteria are killed and if it is canned there is no oxidation. There is no oxygen in the can and therefore there is no deterioration until the can starts to lose air pressure. (Applause)
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MR. BERNACCHI: You mean in fact that it is canned at 212 degrees?
MR. WONG: Well, the usual heat treatment involved in canning is over 212 degrees.
MR. BERNACCHI: Thank you.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Sir, may I congratulate Mr. WONG!
MR. FORSGATE: May I ask a supplementary Mr. Chairman, arising out of Mr. LI's question. His question concerned Hong Kong produced canned goods. If there are more people here eating canned food, and remembering the rather unfortunate experience of people in the northern part of the United Kingdom - there was a large outbreak of typhoid - is there any process whereby imported tinned food is examined periodically to ensure the health of the inhabitants?
MR. SALES: Sir, imported from Scotland? Is that what Mr. FORSGATE is suggesting? (Laughter)
MR. FORSGATE: Sir, may I clarify that for the honour of Scotland? In Scotland they ate tinned food imported from a part of South America. (Laughter)
MR. SALES: We were referring to importations into Hong Kong.
CHAIRMAN: The answer says that as far as tinned food is concerned, sampling is rarely carried out. That applies to local and imported tinned food.
(6) MR. SOLOMON RAFEEK asked the following question:
I have received representation from residents in the Morrison Hill Resite area concerning the installation of electric lighting in that area, which at present is accommodating approximately 800 persons from condemned buildings awaiting resettlement.
Will the Commissioner for Resettlement be prepared to take steps to have public lighting installed in this particular area, since part of this site is being used by private-owned lorries as parking place from sunset to sunrise, and, recently a child in this area was injured by a lorry which incident might possibly have been prevented had there been public lighting?
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