Page 48 of 115
88
www.www.www
# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(2) Ms. ANNA TANG KING-YUNG asked the following question (in Cantonese): The contamination of fish and shellfish by sea water is getting increasingly serious and has become the concern of the World Health Organization. As deep-sea fish and shellfish for daily consumption have come from neighbouring areas as well as all parts of the world, how does the Department control the importation of such toxic seafood?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Miss TANG for raising this very sensitive and timely question. First, I will try to explain the issue as provided by the Department. According to our present arrangement in Hong Kong, the Urban Services Department has no control over the possible—I emphasise the word 'possible'—toxic deep-sea fish and shellfish. That is to say, the Urban Council is not the controlling authority for the importation of any live marine products. The USD and the Urban Council have the responsibility to control food but the Council and the Department have no control over live marine products i.e. swimming fish. If we have to check every fish, then the live fish will become a dead fish. So there is a problem here. Neither the Department nor any body will be able to know the way to test whether the live fish or the live oyster is toxic or contaminated or otherwise. Even if there is a way to find out in a test on whether a special fish is contaminated, it is difficult to say that other specimens in the same consignment are also similarly contaminated. Live marine product is not a typical specimen and if the test is done to the extreme then the nature of the product will be changed. I think this is not a problem only limited to Hong Kong. The way to protect the consumers is to cook food properly and thoroughly. This has been emphasised repeatedly by the Department to food business operators and the public. In the tertiary institutes, some studies have been done. As long as the fish is still alive and as long as the fish is swimming in the water, it does not contain any germs. Usually the germs reside in the intestine. So the way to protect the consumer is not to eat the intestine of the fish. I think the answer prepared may not be satisfactory to Miss TANG's question. Perhaps I will try to deal with this question from a broader perspective. But I don't want to take up a lot of our time. With regard to contamination of seafood, there are 5 possibilities: (1) bacteria contamination (2) virus contamination (3) existence of bacteria leading to the development of toxins (4) heavy metal such as cadmium and (5) as mentioned in the press though Members may not be aware of, the presence of some kind of algae among the corals which affects the garoupas. The five types of contamination cannot be dealt with by simple methods such as exposing seafood to some lights, or testing them. The testing process is very complicated. The fish has to be killed first before it can be tested. There are different ways to deal with the five types of contamination. For bacteria, the best thing is to cook the fish thoroughly and don't eat the gills and intestine. That is the same for virus. With regard to toxic material caused by bacteria or virus, that might have gone into the flesh of the fish, the problem is more complicated. If there are dead fish in the fish tanks, then it is better not to eat the dead fish because the toxic material might have entered the flesh of the fish. As for heavy metals mainly arsenic and cadmium, recently the television station discovered that in the seafood produced in area contaminated by the dumping areas, the level of cadmium in the fish is not too high. You don't have to be over-worried. But continuous consumption of heavy metal will be a problem. As for the more expensive fish like garoupa or those living among the corals, sometimes they are contaminated by algae and those who have consumed them might have their arms or parts of their bodies paralysed. That is also a matter of concern by the Department of Health. Having said that we know that administrative means alone, including enactment of legislation, may not be able to deal with the problem comprehensively. A simple administrative approach cannot eradicate the problem of seafood contamination. As far as the responsibility of the authorities is concerned, I think basic information should be gathered on a regular basis. We need basic information concerning bacteria, virus, toxins, heavy metals and the toxic contents in coral fish. Although living marine animals do not come under our ambit, the problem associated with them is developing throughout the world and we need to have adequate information. The Department does not get any data to deal with this. At a recent Hygiene Services Committee meeting, we also proposed the collection of this basic information. We don't need to wait for the television stations to tell us. The Department of Health has agreed to collect the necessary information and we will have to await the outcome. All in all, although we are not able to eradicate the problem, fortunately we do not eat these live marine products every day. Nevertheless, we must be prepared. We should try to protect ourselves. With regard to the inspection of marine products, the Department has commissioned the Microbiology Department to do the investigation. I want to give Members a further word of advice—with regard to oysters and clams, please try to avoid them, they are particularly dangerous.
MISS ANNA TANG KING-YUEN (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Professor LEUNG for giving us the professional advice. I am satisfied with his answer but I want to make a few clarifications. When I am talking about deep sea fish, I am referring also to the frozen marine products. I want to know whether the Department has paid attention to the import of frozen marine products and whether there is any sample testing of those products?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese): Fish fillets and frozen food are typical items under regular inspection.
THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese): I heard from Professor LEUNG that public should not consume the intestine and gills of the fish. But is Professor LEUNG aware that the restaurants also supply fish intestine for the consumption of their consumers? And people find that intestine of fish makes a very good dish. What advice should we give to the people in this respect?
Page 48 of 115
89
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 48 of 115
Page 48 of 115
88
www.www.www
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(2) Ms.
ANNA TANG KING-YUNG asked the following question (in Cantonese): The contamination of fish and shellfish by sea water is getting increasingly serious and has become the concern of the World Health Organization. As deep-sea fish and shellfish for daily consumption have come from neighbouring areas as well as all parts of the world, how does the Department control the importation of such toxic seafood?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Miss TANG for raising this very sensitive and timely question. First, I will try to explain the issue as provided by the Department. According to our present arrangement in Hong Kong, the Urban Services Department has no control over the possible-I emphasise the word 'possible' toxic deep-sea fish and shellfish. That is to say, the Urban Council is not the controlling authority for the importation of any live marine products. The USD and the Urban Council have the responsibility to control on food but the Council and the Department have no control over live marine products i.e. swimming fish. If we have to check every fish, then the live fish will become a dead fish. So there is a problem here. Neither the Department nor any body will be able to know the way to test whether the live fish or the live oyster is toxic or contaminated or otherwise. Even if there is a way to find out in a test on whether a special fish is contaminated, it is difficult to say that other specimen in the same consignment are also similarly contaminated. Live marine product is not a typical specimen and if the test is done to the extreme then the nature of the product will be changed. I think this is not a problem only limited to Hong Kong. The way to protect the consumers is to cook food properly and thoroughly. This has been emphasised repeatedly by the Department to food business operators and the public. In the tertiary institutes, some studies have been done. As long as the fish is still alive and as long as the fish is swimming in the water, it does not contain any germs. Usually the germs reside in the intestine. So the way to protect the consumer is not to eat the intestine of the fish. I think the answer preparerd may not be satisfactory to Miss TANG's question. Perhaps I will try to deal with this question from a broader perspective. But I don't want to take up a lot of our time. With regard to contamination of seafood, there are 5 possibilities: (1) bacteria contamination (2) virus contamination (3) existence of bacteria leading to the development of toxins (4) heavy metal such as cadmium and (5) as mentioned in the press though Members may not be aware of, the presence of some kind of algae among the corals which affects the garoupas. The five types of contamination cannot be dealt with by simple methods such as exposing seafood to some lights, or testing them. The testing process is very complicated. The fish has to be killed first before it can be tested. There are different ways to deal with the five types of contamination. For bacteria, the best thing is to cook the fish thoroughly and don't eat the gills and intestine. That is the same for virus. With regard to toxic material caused by bacteria or virus, that might have gone into the flesh of the fish, the problem is more complicated. If there are dead fish in the fish tanks, then it is better not to eat
Page 48 of 115
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 48 of 115
89
the dead fish because the toxic material might have entered the flesh of the fish. As for heavy metals mainly arsenic and cadmium, recently the television station discovered that in the seafood produced in area contaminated by the dumping areas, the level of cadmium in the fish is not too high. You don't have to be over-worried. But continuous consumption of heavy metal will be a problem. As for the more expensive fish like garoupa or those living among the corals, sometimes they are contaminated by algae and those who have consumed them might have their arms or parts of their bodies paralysed. That is also a matter of concern by the Department of Health. Having said that we know that administrative means alone, including enactment of legislation, may not be able to deal with the problem comprehensively. A simple administrative approach cannot eradicate the problem of seafood contamination. As far as the responsibility of the authorities is concerned, I think basic information should be gathered on a regular basis. We need basic information concerning bacteria, virus, toxins, heavy metals and the toxic contents in coral fish. Although living marine animals do not come under our ambit, the problem associated with them is developing throughout the world and we need to have adequate information. The Department does not get any data to deal with this. At a recent Hygiene Services Committee meeting, we also proposed the collection of this basic information. We don't need to wait for the television stations to tell us. The Department of Health has agreed to collect the necessary information and we will have to await the outcome. All in all, although we are not able to eradicate the problem, fortunately we do not eat these live marine products everyday. Nevertheless we must be prepared. We should try to protect ourselves. With regard to the inspection of marine products, the Department has commissioned the Microbiology Department to do the investigation. I want to give Members a further word of advice-with regard to oysters and clams, please try to avoid them, they are particularly dangerous.
MISS ANNA TANG KING-YUEN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Professor LEUNG for giving us the professional advice. I am satisfied with his answer but I want to make a few clarifications, When I am talking about deep sea fish, I am referring also to the frozen marine products. I want to know whether the Department has paid attention to the import of frozen marine products and whether there is any sample testing of those products?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):-Fish fillets and frozen food are typical items under regular inspection.
THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):-I heard from Professor LEUNG that public should not consume the intestine and gills of the fish. But is Professor LEUNG that public should not consume the intestine and gills of the fish. But is Professor LEUNG aware that the restaurants also supply fish intestine for the consumption of their consumers? And people find that intestine of fish makes a very good dish. What advice should we give to the people in this respect?
Page 48 of 115
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.