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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
(8) MR. WONG Kwok-hing asked (in Cantonese):—'In view of the public's grave concern that the use of unclean seawater for keeping live seafood is a possible cause of transmitting cholera, I have the following enquiries:
(1) How many live seafood retail outlets are there within the Council Area? How many food premises selling live seafood are there?
(ii) Is the seawater being used by the above retail outlets or food premises obtained from the water zones that have been approved by the Government? If so, how many seawater suppliers are there? If not, what is used to substitute seawater for keeping live seafood? Are the seawater suppliers being monitored?
(iii) Have the above retail outlets or food premises installed disinfection and filtration facilities for the seawater used to keep live seafood? Has toilet flushing water been used without authorization?
(iv) Does the Department or relevant government departments inspect the premises and draw seawater samples regularly for examination? To combat the spread of cholera, how does the Department step up its inspection or sample testing? Please evaluate if the sample testing has been effectively monitored. Please compare the testing results of water samples in recent years?
(v) Is there any unauthorized drawing of seawater along the coasts of the Council Area for keeping live seafood?
(vi) Is there any unauthorized drawing of seawater along the coasts of the Council Area for sale?'
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-sut, CHAIRMAN OF THE PH S/C replied (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, this question on unclean seawater used for keeping live seafood consists of 6 parts.
Part 1 of the question is about the number of places selling live seafood within the Council Area. Within the Council Area, there are presently 146 licensed fresh provision shops and 124 PUC market stalls selling live seafood. There are 637 licensed food premises which keep live seafood.
Part 2 of the question is about seawater suppliers. According to surveys conducted in the past, there are approximately 42 seawater suppliers within the Council Area. The EPD, with reference to past monitoring records, has identified certain ‘off-shore' areas as abstraction points where the quality of the seawater is acceptable for the purpose of keeping live seafood. The Government encourages seawater suppliers to draw seawater from these areas. Food premises that do not use seawater to keep live seafood use synthetic seawater. There is no existing legislative control over the seawater suppliers. However, the Working Group on Control of Use of Seawater for Keeping Live Fish and Shell-fish under the Inter-departmental Coordinating Committee on the Prevention and Control of Cholera, chaired by the Deputy Director of Health, is studying the issue. The Working Group is currently studying the feasibility of introducing a registration system for seawater suppliers.
Page 462 of 606
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Page 462 of 606
Page 462 of 606
606
PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
(8) MR. WONg Kwok-hing asked (in Cantonese):—'In view of the public's grave concern that the use of unclean seawater for keeping live seafood is a possible cause of transmitting cholera, I have the following enquiries:
(1) How many live seafood retail outlets are there within the Council Area?
How many food premises selling live seafood are there?
(ii) Is the seawater being used by the above retail outlets or food premises obtained from the water zones that have been approved by the Government? If so, how many seawater suppliers are there? If not, what is used to substitute seawater for keeping live seafood? Are the seawater suppliers being monitored?
(iii) Have the above retail outlets or food premises installed disinfection and filtration facilities for the seawater used to keep live seafood? Has toilet flushing water been used without authorization?
(iv) Does the Department or relevant government departments inspect the premises and draw seawater samples regularly for examination? To combat the spread of cholera, how does the Department step up its inspection or sample testing? Please evaluate if the sample testing has been effectively monitored. Please compare the testing results of water samples in recent years?
(v) Is there any unauthorized drawing of seawater along the coasts of the
Council Area for keeping live seafood?
(vi) Is there any unauthorized drawing of seawater along the coasts of the
Council Area for sale?'
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-sut, ChairmaN OF THE PH S/C replied (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, this question on unclean seawater used for keeping live scafood consists of 6 parts.
Part 1 of the question is about the number of places selling live seafood within the Council Area. Within the Council Area, there are presently 146 licensed fresh provision shops and 124 PUC market stalls selling live seafood. There are 637 licensed food premises which keep live seafood.
Part 2 of the question is about seawater suppliers. According to surveys conducted in the past, there are approximately 42 seawater suppliers within the Council Area. The EPD, with reference to past monitoring records, has identified certain ‘off-shore' areas as abstraction points where the quality of the seawater is acceptable for the purpose of keeping live seafood. The Government encourages seawater suppliers to draw seawater from these areas. Food premises that do not use seawater to keep live seafood use synthetic seawater. There is no existing legislative control over the seawater suppliers. However, the Working Group on Control of Use of Seawater for Keeping Live Fish and Shell-fish under the Inter-departmental Coordinating Committee on the Prevention and Control of Cholera, chaired by the Deputy Director of Health, is studying the issue. The Working Group is currently studying the feasibility of introducing a registration system for seawater suppliers.
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