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PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—Now we are facing problems both from within and outside. Mr. WONG may have listened to my remarks at the latter part of my explanation. I said that we are not able to eradicate the problem by simple administrative measures. I also added that we have to see if we have done enough. I think there are more things to be done. I just mentioned one thing. I said there was a need for basic information—information on whether our live marine products are bacteria-free, whether they are not contaminated by heavy metals, whether they are not contaminated by virus. We only knew that there were problems of heavy metals among live marine products from the television and we were criticised and after that there were many assumptions that contaminated seawater fish will cause cholera and people who consume that will die, etc. This information is important in dealing with imported epidemics. If the Department of Health can test the seawater fish as with other food and keep the data on record, say the examination taken in March found that the marine products are in order, then we can rest assured. But the point is if we do not have information then we will put ourselves in the spotlight and we will be subject to criticism. The Public Health Select Committee has raised this issue and the Department has now agreed to make more regular inspection of live marine products and to keep a record of the findings. I am not able to find out the way to protect the public 100% because the fish is a living fish. It is impossible to have it cooked before it is sold. But it seems that the foreigners can avoid this problem. They have got used to eating frozen food and they don't eat live marine products regularly. But we have a preference for live marine products and are afraid that they are contaminated. We find this a very difficult problem.
MISS CHRISTINA TING YUK-CHEF (in Cantonese):—A number of questions have been raised in relation to fresh seafood. Professor LEUNG has told us very clearly but I would still like to ask one more question. The USD does inspect the fishtank regularly. For the Southern District, we have been told that perhaps they should not eat seafood as it is now commonly believed that if you eat seafood you will become susceptible to cholera. Hong Kong is a very famous tourist city and seafood is extremely famous too. So my question is this: Previously you sample-tested water in the fishtanks. What is happening now? Are you testing every single fishtank and how regularly do you test them? How can you go about reassuring our people? Now you say 'OK, please don't eat seafood'. But now everybody is afraid. Some restaurants may be alright but they are suffering and they are losing business. What are we going to do? What sort of advice should we give to our people to tell them that they can still eat seafood and won't contract the disease? What else can we do?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—Thank you very much. We have looked at information. Cholera is breaking out in a number of places or areas in Hong Kong but the most worrying part is still the area near the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter and so I believe that if you really put your life at risk and eat the seafood there, then you have to be careful. But I don't really believe that if you eat seafood you will definitely contract the disease. The Time magazine also feels that this issue is important and they also asked me about it. I feel that I have to be very careful in answering questions because we might even scare the tourists away. What I said was perhaps we should warn people off crustaceans and our VCUC is still taking seafood as far as I understand.
MR. JUSTIN WONG CHUN (in Cantonese):—Thank You. I have two questions. The first question is this: Professor LEUNG said that even if the crustacean is cooked properly there may still be bacteria, so should we ask the Department of Health to give us some guidelines. You are saying that we should not consume seafood regularly. So how regular and how much should people consume them? For instance, how many oysters should we take within a certain period? What about scallop? What about other crustaceans. And then my second question is this: Apart from testing the water in the fishtanks of restaurants, how should we go about advising the people of Hong Kong in relation to taking sashimi raw fish. We sometimes just wash it and we don't really cook it, so when people want to consume sashimi, what are the things that they should pay attention to?
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—I think your question is deviating from the original question how does the Department control the importation of such toxic seafood? So maybe this can be dealt with in a brief way.
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—Yes, the second part is actually off the ambit of this question, therefore, I am not going to answer that. Shellfish is particularly dangerous because they are in the seabed. They don't move and they do absorb things from the mud of the seabed and therefore it is extremely dangerous if you have to consume the whole thing. You can't really take away the intestine of the sea animal. And that is the reason why probably you may contract hepatitis A or you may suffer diarrhoea and this is something that we must face. The Department of Health has asked the Microbiology Department of a University to look into this. We are now conducting a study and we will soon be announcing the findings because our methods are now more advanced. And when that is available, we can ask the Consumer Council to advise us how often we should eat such fish.
MR. MOK YING-FAN (in Cantonese): I have a question but first may I thank Professor LEUNG for lecturing us on seafood hygiene. The USD and the RSD staff are working extremely hard in testing the water in the fishtanks. Members of the public very often point their fingers at us and the Government is saying that we only react after something unfortunate has happened, and then usually we neglect or ignore the problem at other times. So my question is: After this outbreak has been controlled and when things have died down, will we still continue to put in place and establish practice to protect the health of members of the public and make sure that people who consume seafood in seafood restaurants will be taking hygienic food?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—Well, if we continue to have cholera with us, that is even more dangerous than the Daya Bay Nuclear Plant
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PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—Now we are facing problems both from within and outside. Mr. WONG may have listened to my remarks at the latter part of my explanation. I said that we are not able to eradicate the problem by simple administrative measures. I also added that we have to see if we have done enough. I think there are more things to be done. I just mentioned one thing. I said there was a need for basic information-information on whether our live marine products are bacteria free, whether they are not contaminated by heavy metals, whether they are not contaminated by virus. We only knew that there were problems of heavy metals among live marine products from the television and we were criticised and after that there were many assumptions that contaminated seawater fish will cause cholera and people who consume that will die etc. This information is important in dealing with imported epidemics. If the Department of Health can test the seawater fish as with other food and keep the data on record, say the examination taken in March found that the marine products are in order, then we can rest assured. But the point is if we do not have information then we will put ourselves in the spotlight and we will be subject to criticism. The Public Health Select Committee has raised this issue and the Department has now agreed to make more regular inspection of live marine products and to keep a record of the findings. I am not able to find out the way to protect the public 100% because the fish is a living fish. It is impossible to have it cooked before it is sold. But it seems that the foreigners can avoid this problem. They have got used to eating frozen food and they don't eat live marine products regularly. But we have a preference for live marine products and are afraid that they are contaminated. We find this a very difficult problem.
MISS CHRISTINA TING YUK-CHEF (in Cantonese):—A number of questions have been raised in relation to fresh seafood. Professor LEUNG has told us very clearly but I would still like to ask one more question. The USD does inspect the fishtank regularly. For the Southern District, we have been told that perhaps they should not eat seafood as it is now commonly believed that if you eat seafood you will become susceptible to cholera. Hong Kong is a very famous tourist city and seafood is extremely famous too. So my question is this: Previously you sample-tested water in the fishtanks. What is happening now? Are you testing every single fishtanks and how regularly do you test them? How can you go about reassuring our people? Now you say 'OK, please don't eat seafood'. But now everybody is afraid. Some restaurants may be alright but they are suffering and they are losing business. What are we going to do? What sort of advice should we give to our people to tell them that they can still eat seafood and won't contract the disease? What else can we do?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):-Thank you very much. We have looked at information. Cholera is breaking out in a number of places or areas in Hong Kong but the most worrying part is still the area near the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter and so I believe that if you really put your life at risk and eat the seafood there, then you have to be careful. But I don't really
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
believe that if you eat seafood you will definitely contract the disease. The Time megazine also feels that this issue is important and they also asked me about it. I feel that I have to be very careful in answering questions because we might even scare the tourists away. What I said was perhaps we should warn people off crustaceans and our VCUC is still taking seafood as far as I understand.
MR. JUSTEIN WONG CHUN (in Cantonese):—Thank You. I have two questions. The first question is this: Professor LEUNG said that even if the crustacean is cooked properly there may still be bacteria, so should we ask the Department of Health to give us some guidelines. You are saying that we should not consume seafood regularly. So how regular and how much should people consume them? For instance, how many oysters should we take within a certain period? What about scallop? What about other crustaceans. And then my second question is this: Apart from testing the water in the fishtanks of restaurants, how should we go about advising the people of Hong Kong in relation to taking sashimi raw fish. We sometimes just wash it and we don't really cook it, so when people want to consume sashimni, what are the things that they should pay attention to?
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—I think your question is deviating from the original question how does the Department control the importation of such toxic seafood? So may be this can be dealt with in a brief way.
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):-Yes, the second part is actually off the ambit of this question, therefore, I am not going to answer that. Shellfish is particularly dangerous because they are in the seabed. They don't move and they do absorb things from the mud of the seabed and therefore it is extremely dangerous if you have to consume the whole thing. You can't really take away the intestine of the sea animal. And that is the reason why probably you may contract hapetitis A or you may suffer diarrhoea and this is something that we must face. The Department of Health has asked the Microbiology Department of a University to look into this. We are now conducting a study and we will soon be announcing the findings because our methods are now more advanced. And when that is available, we can ask the Consumer Council to advise us how often we should eat such fish.
MR. MOK YING-FAN (in Cantonese): I have a question but first may I thank Professor LEUNG for lecturing us on seafood hygiene. The USD and the RSD staff are working extremely hard in testing the water in the fishtanks. Members of the public very often point their fingers at us and the Government is saying that we only react after something unfortunate has happened, and then usually we neglect or ignore the problem at other times. So my question is: After this outbreak has been controlled and when things have died down, will we still continue to put in place and establish practice to protect the health of members of the public and make sure that people who consume seafood in seafood restaurants will be taking hygienic food?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—Well, if we continue to have cholera with us, that is even more dangerous than the Daya Bay Nuclear Plant
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