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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. LAU (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, some days ago, there was a complaint made by Kung Wo Tong against the Urban Council. Can Mr. Lo tell me what are the major obstacles?
MR. Lo (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I'm afraid I'm not aware of what particular criticisms were made.
MR. LAU (in Cantonese):—I think they have plans to hire Victoria Park for the purpose of opera during the Yue Lan Festival and the Urban Council had objected to such application.
MR. Lo (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I think that is correct. I believe the Chiu Chow Kung Wo Tong Friendly Association Ltd. did apply for the use of Victoria Park for this year, but was turned down. At one time, this Association did use Victoria Park and then they moved to somewhere else. This year, the conditions are different in Victoria Park because two football pitches are being used by M.T.R. and another football pitch is being used as a work site for the contractor erecting the tennis court stands. So I'm afraid I can't hold out very much hope for this Association.
MR. LAU (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, in Mr. Lo's reply he has mentioned the fact that the applicant could use the site for three weeks, but of course out of that three weeks, seven days are for the erection of the stage and another 5 days for the demolition of the stage. Can we consider the usage of mobile stage so that time can be saved?
MR. Lo (in English):—Mr. Chairman, as to the period of three weeks, I think when the Association make use of the area concerned, they can shorten their time for erecting the stands. We haven't laid down that they must take seven days to erect the stands or anything like that. We will consider to allow them to use it longer.
2. DR. KIM Y. S. CHAM asked the following question (in English):—Is the Urban Council satisfied that all canned salmon sold in the market now is safe for human consumption?
THE HONOURABLE Maria W. C. Tam, CHAIRMAN OF THE FOOD HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):—The question is whether or not the Council is satisfied that all canned salmon now on sale in the market is safe for human consumption.
Since information was received on 17 February 1982 about two cases of botulism food poisoning in Belgium which were the result of the consumption of the U.S.A. canned salmon and which resulted in one death, the Food Section of the Urban Services Department has been in close contact with the health authorities in the U.K., Belgium, the U.S.A., Canada and Australia for the purpose of ascertaining firstly, the brand, the exact place of manufacture and the production code number of the canned salmon involved; and secondly whether or not any cans in the batch concerned had been imported into Hong Kong.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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While the department was collecting details from overseas, imports of canned salmon and retail outlets for canned products were kept under surveillance. Canned salmon from all sources was inspected and sampled for possible defects in the tins and for food poisoning organisms. Food traders were advised to stop the sale of all U.S.A. canned salmon until sufficient information was available to enable cans which were possibly defective to be identified. Members of the public were also warned of the possible danger and advised through press release and radio and T.V. interviews in English and Chinese to avoid canned salmon until such time as clearance could be given.
In early March, when information from overseas revealed that the suspect cans all bore the letter K in the production code numbers stamped on the cans, the sale of cans with this marking was stopped throughout Hong Kong. This measure resulted in 6,780 cans being shipped back to the country of origin.
The authorities in U.S.A. and Canada informed the Department that exhaustive measures had been taken in their countries to pinpoint the cause of the defect. It was subsequently discovered that the fault lay in canning machines which had slightly punctured the cans during production. This discovery resulted in large numbers of cans being recalled. However, it also emerged that no suspect cans, apart from those with the letter K in their production code numbers, had been imported into Hong Kong.
While the surveillance programme is still continuing, the results of the samples taken so far have not revealed the presence of any food poisoning germs and I can assure Members that all canned salmon on sale in the market is safe for human consumption.
DR. CHAM (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, if in future, we discover canned food which are poisonous, can we inform the public right away?
MISS TAM (in Cantonese):—In case we have information that certain canned food are poisonous, then we would stick to our present methods of warning to the public not to eat or purchase such kind of food. We would also try to stop the retailers and importers from supplying such food.
DR. CHAM (in Cantonese):—Under such circumstances, would we send Health Inspectors along to collect all the stock which are poisonous?
MISS TAM (in Cantonese):—Certainly, we will do it and we have been doing it all along. When we heard of the poisonous canned salmon case in Europe, the U.S.D. staff went along to the retailers and importers of the canned goods in