Page 398 of 654
or 654
Page 398 of 654
394
# HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
of individual government departments. The spirit of my motion is to urge the Department of Health to enlist the cooperation of relevant local and mainland departments. For example, the merchandise inspection bureaus of Shenzhen and Guangdong, the municipal councils and their departments, the Department of Health, the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, the Vegetable Marketing Organization etc. of Hong Kong should get together to look into the problem. A comprehensive review is in order.
From the practical angle, I think the need for an overall review is to look into areas for improvement and plug loopholes.
First of all, we need to enhance education and publicity so that our people are aware of the need for prevention. We should not just sound warnings when cases surface. The food inspection centre at Mankamto is now running tests on samples taken from each truck, but the baskets of vegetables that have not gone through inspection are still numerous. It proves that we cannot just rely on inspection at the import point. The last line of defence is with our people. Government departments and the two municipal councils should study and enhance education on vegetable safety. Only when everyone in the community is aware of the need for precaution can we be safe.
Secondly, I feel there is need for heavier penalties. We should affix criminal responsibility to offenders instead of just imposing fines. This will check against greedy people risking the safety of the majority for their own small gains. It is particularly important to cooperate with mainland bodies in checking the problem at production, purchasing and transportation stages. We have to curb illegal use of farm pesticides as well as smuggled vegetables (those produced by unlicensed small vegetable farms). From recent cases, we know that some drivers smuggle produce from unlicensed farms in return for small gains. I think we should implement stiffer penalties and study the introduction of a licensing system for better supervision.
Thirdly, we need to step up intelligence exchange with the mainland in connection with poisonous vegetables. Information exchange during the season of leafy vegetables is particularly important. Farms, exporters, importers, transportation vehicles should be checked more often to prevent cases of non-compliance.
Fourthly, we need to review and improve the existing sampling mechanism. Judging from the present situation, I think there are at least four areas to be improved on:
1. Although we have a sampling mechanism at Mankamto food inspection centre, we should see how the mechanism can work better. On the day of site inspection, we saw that only vegetables closest to the doors of trucks were taken as samples, not those in the middle or at the bottom. In other words, a truck driver with intent can place unsafe vegetables in the centre or at the bottom to avoid sampling. I therefore feel studies