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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
there can obviously be no substitute for competent management on a per-concepts and values going on rapidly in this territory. In these circumstances, vasive and sustained scale. This is the Council's direct responsibility. And, it is obliged to exercise it together without distraction. For, the end is community advancement. Can there be a better defined and more altruistic
objective? This must surely give the Council a sense of purpose.
PAPER
Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of May 1978.
QUESTIONS
1 MR PETER P. F. CHAN asked the following question (in English):~ What is the ratio of kitchen eating area for fast food shops as compared with restaurants? In view of the obvious needs for fast food shops, especially in the urban and industrial areas and the possibility that fast food shops will slowly but gradually eliminate food-for-man hawkers, can the Urban Council streamline the licensing procedure for shops to encourage their establishment as a means of solving at least a part of the hawker problem?
MR EDMUND W. H. CHOW, CHAIRMAN OF THE FOOD HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied (in English):-The first part of the question concerns the ratio of kitchen to eating area in fast food shops compared to restaurants. 'Fast food shop' is the term commonly used by the food trade to describe shops selling selected snack items. If the food items are sold for consumption on the premises and seating accommodation is provided, the premises must be licensed as a restaurant, in which case the ratio of food room area to gross floor area must be in accordance with the usual rules for restaurants. On the other hand, if food is sold only for consumption off the premises, fast food shops need only be licensed as food factories. In this case, no seating accommodation is permitted and there are no rules governing the ratio of the food preparation area to the premises as a whole. However, before this kind of food factory is licensed, the overall size of the food preparation area is always taken into consideration and if it is too small for proper standards of hygiene to be maintained, the Department will recommend to the Council that the grant of a licence should be refused.
The second part of the question concerns the possible streamlining of the licensing procedure for fast food shops so as to encourage their establishment and to reduce the number of illegal cooked-food hawkers. Standard sets of health requirements and conditions governing all types of food business have been approved by the Council; they are under constant review and amended
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whenever necessary. They are designed to be as simple and easy to comply with as possible, consistent with ensuring that proper hygiene standards are maintained. Provided that the premises are suitable, it is not difficult for an applicant to comply with the Council's requirements and, in a straightforward case with the diligent co-operation of the applicant, a licence could be issued in less than 2 months' time.
MR CHAN (in English):--Mr Chairman, if a customer walks into a so-called food factory, buys some food, unpacks it and eats the food there without sitting down, may I know whether the owner or the customer is in breach of by-laws or licensing requirements?
CHAIRMAN (in English): Your question is not exactly in line with Standing Order 12, Section 15, but if Mr Chow wishes to answer it, please do so.
MR CHOW (in English):-The question depends on the circumstances of each case, Mr Chairman. As I said, if there is no seating accommodation and the operator deliberately allows the customers to take food inside his premises, certainly he has committed a breach, otherwise, he has not.
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Thank you.
2 MR PETER P. F. CHAN asked the following question (in English):-Can fresh meat be retailed in supermarkets in urban areas in the same way as in markets? If not, may the council be informed of the policy and whether there is any likelihood that the policy will be reviewed in the near future?
MR EDMUND W. H. CHOW, CHAIRMAN OF THE FOOD HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied (in English):—Under the Urban Council's present policy, fresh meat may be retailed only in markets and licensed fresh provision shops. The sale of fresh meat in supermarkets or in premises not used solely as fresh provision shops is not permitted. The reason for this restriction is that the delivery of freshly-killed carcases cannot be done without wetting floors and the creation of conditions which would not be satisfactory in premises not specially designed for the handling of fresh meat. In particular, a properly designed drainage system is required.
I should make it clear that this restriction does not apply to frozen or chilled meat sold to customers direct from refrigerators without being thawed out, plucked, dressed or handled in any way except for the cutting up necessary to meet the needs of customers, weighing and wrapping. However, special requirements are laid down for the sale of frozen or chilled meat and these are contained in the Council's 'Guide to Licensing'.
The Council's policy of restricting the sale of fresh meat to markets and to premises used solely as fresh provision shops is designed to protect public