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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
legislative amendments in the coming summer. However, summer is just around the corner, during which bacteria breed easily. The problem caused by the high-risk food products is particularly serious in the summer. A slow remedy cannot solve an imminent problem. I think we should exercise flexibility and consider adopting short-term measures with immediate effect to solve the imminent problems before the long-term ones become effective. So, today, I am going to put forward in my motion proposals on short-term measures and on amendments to provisions regarding long-term monitoring actions.
For the short-term measures, I would like to suggest the following:
1.
2.
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4.
According to the available information, there are about 70 food premises selling sushi in Hong Kong. There will be 40 more to be opened in the coming summer. These food premises are regulated only by the general restaurant licences until the new legislation comes into effect. At present, there are no additional provisions to monitor these raw fish products adequately. Therefore, in the transitional period, the authorities should target at these food premises, step up inspection and collect samples for examination. This will create a deterrent effect among these food premises whose operators, in turn, will spontaneously enhance the standard of hygiene.
At present, the authorities do have a set of guidelines on the preparation and sale of raw fish food products. The guidelines, yet, are only advisory in nature and do not really have any deterrent effect. Therefore, in implementing short-term contingency measures, the authorities should immediately devise a set of regulations for inspection so that inspecting officers of the Department of Health can act in accordance with a more stringent standard specifically for monitoring and examining the hygiene standard of these food products. As a result, they will not have to follow the procedures for inspecting general food premises. Those food premises that are not up to the standard should be inspected more frequently. To achieve a deterrent effect, we could even consider publicising the details of repeated offenders and blacklisting them, which will become the basis for considering their licensing application in the future.
Those food premises selling sushi or sashimi without a licence should be inspected and prosecuted more frequently so that they will be stamped out.
I suggest that the Council should promote food hygiene education with regard to sushi and sashimi food products in the summer, during which breeding of bacteria is rampant. In the coming summer, the Council should hold special talks on food hygiene and issue posters and booklets for wide publicity, so that consumers will have better knowledge of raw food hygiene as soon as possible. We should inform the food premises operators as to how they should handle raw food
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