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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
relevant legislation on its own. In this connection, I have contacted the Chairman of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee of the Provisional Regional Council in the hope that a joint meeting to exchange views could be held. We have initially obtained their views and agreement has been reached to hold a joint meeting. It is our hope that the meeting can be held soon after the Chinese New Year holidays.
As regards amending the by-laws on the control of sushi, sashimi and raw oysters, we have taken into account the need of the urban area and incorporated 'meat to be eaten in its raw state' into the list of food items under control. Consequently, the Legislative Council held that it was not in the interest of the public for the two Municipal Councils to adopt, in areas under their jurisdiction, different sets of control measures on food safety. If only this Council takes the lead to amend the relevant legislation to tighten the control on food premises which pose a threat to public health, the two Municipal Councils may again appear to be adopting different laws and policies and will inevitably invite criticism. Actually, as Hong Kong is only a small place, it is undesirable to have different laws and policies for different districts because this is prone to cause inconvenience and confusion to the public. If Hong Kong has two or more councils empowered to formulate policies and amend laws on their own, it is very difficult to put aside differences and seek a common policy. I earnestly hope that the two Municipal Councils may strengthen co-operation and communications so as to sort out differences and arrive at a consensus in formulating any new policy in future. Even though we have one Hong Kong and two Councils, I hope we can still maintain one Hong Kong, one system.
In October last year, the U.S. made Dreyer's ice-cream bars for sale in Hong Kong were found to contain Listeria bacteria. The ice-cream bars were in fact contaminated in the U.S. plant. This indicates that problem still emerges even in a technologically advanced country like the U.S.A. which has imposed strict monitoring on food safety. Therefore, we should not rely unduly on the health certificates issued by advanced countries for their exports of food products. We must keep a watchful eye on the monitoring and random inspection of food.
With the incident of contaminated vegetable just behind us, the bird flu H5N1 virus cropped up. The government departments concerned have made tremendous effort to cope with the situation and the most important thing is that we should now work together to lide over the difficulties. Nevertheless, I would like to express a few wishes:
First, no more mass slaughter of poultry;
Second, early establishment of poultry and livestock inspection centres; Third. building poultry wholesale centres as soon as possible to replace the existing temporary, backward wholesale markets; Fourth, it is desirable that we import some frozen whole chickens which fulfil the hygienic and safety requirements in order to meet the need for ancestral worship at the Lunar New Year.
Page 428 of 654
Page 428 of 654
Page 428 of 654
424
HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
relevant legislation on its own. In this connection, I have contacted the Chairman of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee of the Provisional Regional Council in the hope that a joint meeting to exchange views could be held. We have initially obtained their views and agreement has been reached to hold a joint meeting. It is our hope that the meeting can be held soon after the Chinese New Year holidays.
As regards amending the by-laws on the control of sushi, sashimi and raw oysters, we have taken into account the need of the urban area and incorporated 'meat to be eaten in its raw state' into the list of food items under control. Consequently, the Legislative Council held that it was not in the interest of the public for the two Municipal Councils to adopt, in areas under their jurisdiction, different sets of control measures on food safety. If only this Council takes the lead to amend the relevant legislation to tighten the control on food premises which pose a threat to public health, the two Municipal Councils may again appear to be adopting different laws and policies and will inevitably invite criticism. Actually, as Hong Kong is only a small place, it is undesirable to have different laws and policies for different districts because this is prone to cause inconvenience and confusion to the public. If Hong Kong has two or more councils empowered to formulate policies and amend laws on their own, it is very difficult to put aside differences and seek a common policy. I earnestly hope that the two Municipal Councils may strengthen co-operation and communications so as to sort out differences and arrive at a consensus in formulating any new policy in future. Even though we have one Hong Kong and two Councils, I hope we can still maintain one Hong Kong, one system.
In October last year, the U.S. made Dreyer's ice-cream bars for sale in Hong Kong were found to contain Listeria bacteria. The ice-cream bars were in fact contaminated in the U.S. plant. This indicates that problem still emerges even in a technologically advanced country like the U.S.A. which has imposed strict monitoring on food safety. Therefore, we should not rely unduly on the health certificates issued by advanced countries for their exports of food products. We must keep a watchful eye on the monitoring and random inspection of food.
With the incident of contaminated vegetable just behind us, the bird flu H5N1 virus cropped up. The government departments concerned have made tremendous effort to cope with the situation and the most important thing is that we should now work together to lide over the difficulties. Nevertheless, I would like to express a few wishes :
First, no more mass slaughter of poultry:
Second, early establishment of poultry and livestock inspection centres; Third. building poultry wholesale centres as soon as possible to replace
the existing temporary, backward wholesale markets; Fourth, it is desirable that we import some frozen whole chickens which fulfil the hygienic and safety requirements in order to meet the need for ancestral worship at the Lunar New Year.
Page 428 of 654
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