ENG-2011 — Page 237

Food Safety, Environmental Hygiene, Agriculture and Fisheries | 197

and radiological testing as part of the work of ensuring food safety. The overall satisfactory rate of these tests was 99.7 per cent in 2011.

A total of 28 836 vehicles carrying vegetables, and 41 198 vehicles carrying live food animals including pigs, cattle, goats and poultry were inspected at the Food Control Office and Animal Inspection Station at Man Kam To during the year. A total of 5 052 263 live food animals were examined and 46 953 blood and 54 715 urine, faecal and tissue samples were tested for disease and veterinary drug residues.

During the year, the CFS continued its review of the regulatory framework for the control of pesticide and veterinary drug residues in food. The FHB and CFS consulted the Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene of the Legislative Council on the Proposed Regulatory Framework on Pesticide Residues in Food in Hong Kong in July 2011, and conducted a public consultation on the framework from July to September 2011.

The regulation governing nutrition labelling requires prepackaged foods, unless exempted, to carry labels that provide information about energy and specified nutrients. The regulation also specifies the conditions for making nutrition claims. The new regulation enables consumers to make informed choices, regulates misleading or deceptive labels and nutrition claims and encourages food producers to apply sound nutrition principles in the preparation of foodstuffs.

In 2011, the CFS conducted visual checks on 5 048 prepackaged food products to ensure they complied with the statutory '1+7' nutrition-labelling requirements. A total of 503 food samples were taken for chemical analysis to verify the nutrition information and nutrition claim. The overall compliance rate was 98.47 per cent.

The Food Safety Ordinance came into effect on August 1, 2011. It provides a food-tracing mechanism to help the Government trace food sources more effectively and to deal quickly with food incidents. It includes a registration scheme for food importers and food distributors and a record keeping requirement relating to the acquisitions and supplies of food by food traders. There is a six-month grace period for the two requirements, both of which will end on January 31, 2012.

As a 'World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Risk Analysis of Chemicals in Food', the CFS has a commitment to help improve world public health and food safety through research, professional exchanges, capacity building and participation in emergency responses. In June 2011, the CFS organised a regional symposium for food regulators, academics, traders and consumers to share their experiences and exchange views on the handling of food incidents.

Measures against Avian Influenza

Hong Kong implements a series of measures to keep avian influenza at bay. These include stringent monitoring of farms and markets, vaccination of chickens. and close surveillance of imported and local birds in Hong Kong.

Under an agreement with the Mainland, all poultry (except pigeons) imported from there have to be vaccinated against H5 avian influenza, commonly known as