HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
water. After investigation, it proved that the contaminated seawater had caused these cases of food poisoning. It also proved that the sources of such seawater came from the polluted areas within Hong Kong. Subsequent to that incident, USD Inspectors carried out random checking on restaurants but not seafood vendors in the market. According to some information, since last July, after the introduction of the regulation on seawater used by food establishments, the USD and RSD have inspected a total of 1660 water samples in these food establishments and 109 of these did not comply with the standards. Among these, 7 prosecutions were taken out by the USD. It shows that the situation is not really under control and there is still room for improvement in spite of the random checkings and control.
Fellow Members, I think the existing practice is on the passive side. If we want to deal with the problem at its root, we must deal with the seawater suppliers. Therefore, we need to urge the USD to deal with the root of the problem by enacting legislation as soon as possible to bring all water suppliers under a licensing system and put them under our management. It is because certain areas where water quality is good should be designated as recommended sources of supply of seawater. By so doing, we can ensure that seafood consumed by citizens, including ourselves, complies with hygienic standards.
In view of the above suggestion, I had intended to say in my speech that the matter be referred to the Public Health Select Committee for detailed discussion and we should also ask the Department to provide us with the information and also consider enacting legislation. But as we all know, there was a dilatory motion to delay discussion on this. I still support Mr. To's motion.
Mr. Daniel WONG (in Cantonese):—Last summer, when we discovered that a lot of seawater contained E. coli or cholera bacteria which affected the hygiene of food establishments, we did two things hastily. One was to amend our Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance stipulating that all food establishments had to guarantee that the quality of tank water would be up to required standards. Also, some blackspots in Victoria Harbour were designated as areas where people could not draw seawater. I think these two measures are not effective as far as short and long-term measures are concerned because we simply put the burden on the establishment operators. It is not the sort of duty that they can successfully accomplish because they do not know which seawater suppliers can supply water which is up to standard. Secondly, they have a duty to check but they have no way to find out that the water is up to standard. So, these two measures are merely superficial.
If we look at the past record, the Council's ways to deal with public health and food hygiene in food establishments are to license them at source. We use a licensing system to control the supply. For example, the means adopted to ensure that our pork and beef are hygienic is to have our own abattoirs. From the inspection in our abattoirs, we can ensure that the inspected meat is stamped and the meat is fit for human consumption. As for ice factories, they
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
water. After investigation, it proved that the contaminated seawater had caused these cases of food poisoning. It also proved that the sources of such seawater came from the polluted areas within Hong Kong. Subsequent to that incident, USD Inspectors carried out random checking to restaurants but not seafood vendors in the market. According to some information, since last July, after the introduction of the regulation on seawater used by food establishments, the USD and RSD have inspected a total of 1660 water samples in these food establishments and 109 of these did not comply with the standards. Among these, 7 prosecutions were taken out by the USD. It shows that the situation is not really under control and there is still room for improvement in spite of the random checkings and control.
Fellow Members, I think the existing practice is on the passive side. If we want to deal with the problem at its root, we must deal with the seawater suppliers. Therefore, we need to urge the USD to deal with the root of the problem by enacting legislation as soon as possible to bring all water suppliers under a licensing system and put them under our management. It is because certain area where water quality is good should be designated as recommended sources of supply of seawater. By so doing, we can ensure that seafood consumed by citizens including ourselves comply with hygienic standards.
In view of the above suggestion, I had intended to say in my speech that the matter be referred to the Public Health Select Committee for detailed discussion and we should also ask the Department to provide us with the information and also consider enacting legislation. But as we all know, there was a dilatory motion to delay discussion on this. I still support Mr. To's motion.
Mr. Daniel WỌNG (in Cantonese):—Last summer, when we discovered that a lot of seawater contained ccoli or cholera bacteria which affected the hygiene of food establishment, and we did two things hastily. One was to amend our Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance stipulating that all food establishments had to guarantee that the quality of tank water would be up to required standards. Also some blackspots in Victoria Harbour were designated as areas where people could not draw seawater. I think these two measures are not effective as far as short and long term measures are concerned because we simply put the burden on the establishment operators. It is not the sort of duty that they can successfully accomplish because they do not know which seawater suppliers can supply water which is up to standard. Secondly, they have a duty to check but they have no way to find out that the water is up to standard. So, these two measures are merely superficial.
If we look at the past record, the Council's ways to deal with public health and food hygiene in food establishments is to licence them at source. We use a licensing system to control the supply. For example, the means adopted to ensure that our pork and beef are hygienic is to have our own abattoirs. From the inspection in our abattoirs, we can ensure that the inspected meat is stamped and the meat is fit for human consumption. As for ice factories, they
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Page 104 of 485
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