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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
the annual fund of $100 million to the Department of Health and should also take back the power delegated to that Department in respect of enforcing the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance and the related by-laws. The 2 Municipal Councils should also withdraw the manpower from the Hygiene Services Committee which is formed jointly by the 2 Municipal Councils so that the 2 Municipal Councils can be directly involved in formulating and implementing policies while the Department of Health should only play a consultancy role. I earnestly hope that the 2 Municipal Councils will look into this matter carefully. With these remarks, I support the motion.
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese): Both Mr. Tim S. Manuel CHAN and Ms. Jennifer CHOW Kit-bing have registered to speak. Let's have Ms. Jennifer CHOW Kit-bing to speak first.
Ms. Jennifer Chow Kit-bing (in Cantonese): In January at the UC Annual Debate, in my speech titled 'Everybody Eats at Ease', I had already spoken on the need to pay attention to food hygiene. I had also asked the Department to strictly monitor the food suppliers and, if necessary, regulate them by legislation and strict implementation of policies so as to protect the interests of the public. When the Vitasoy Incident first occurred in October last year, I had already put forward some suggestions and urged the Department to learn from this experience and introduce harsher legislation in relation to food hygiene standards. I had also asked the Department to enforce the legislation more strictly and formulate a set of guidelines on recalling problematic food products as soon as possible. Unfortunately, in January this year we had the Vitasoy Incident again. It showed that the Department has failed to learn a lesson from the previous incident and as a result, we do not have a complete set of guidelines on recalling problematic food products and therefore once again there is public condemnation. In terms of manufacturing process, take for example the Vitasoy Incident, the results of investigation indicated that the incidents in factories in Shenzhen and Tuen Mun are mainly due to human errors and problems with the sterilization machines. Such incident also involved problems of setting up factories in the mainland, and since management and hygiene standards between the two places are different, quality problems may arise. In this regard, I think we should study the issue more closely and see how we can monitor the situation and take preventive measures.
Therefore, in order to prevent another spate of food hygiene problems, I think the Department should step up an inspection and monitoring procedure on food hygiene. Those who do not follow the production guidelines should be prosecuted promptly. Moreover, in order to keep the food clean and protect the interest of the public, the Urban Council and the Department of Health should, as soon as possible, formulate a set of guidelines on the recalling of problematic products. For example, problematic products should be recalled within 48 hours. With this set of guidelines, various parties including the manufacturer, retailer, public and consumer
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