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The Government will gazette tomorrow (May 20) the Food Safety Bill to strengthen food safety control to protect public health.
A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said today (May 19): "The purpose of the Bill is to introduce a food tracing mechanism to ensure that the Government can trace the source of the food more effectively and take prompt action when dealing with food incidents."
According to the Bill, any person who carries on a food importation or distribution business has to register with the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene (DFEH). The registration procedure is simple and convenient, requiring only the essential information from traders, including the trader's particulars, contact details and the food type being imported or distributed. Registration forms may be submitted either by paper or electronic means. The registration will be valid for three years and subject to renewal on a three-year basis. The fee level for registration and renewal of registration will be $195 and $180 respectively.
"For food traders who have already registered or have obtained a licence under other ordinances (e.g. food business licence holders), they will be exempted from the registration requirement as the Government already possesses their contact information," the spokesman added.
The registration scheme alone will not guarantee food traceability. The Government has to further require food traders to maintain records of the movement of their food. To this end, the Bill requires any person who, in the course of business, imports, acquires or supplies by wholesale food in Hong Kong to keep their transaction records.
As regards retailers, including catering businesses, they are required to maintain food acquisition records only. The spokesman said: "Taking into consideration the frequent transactions of the retail trade, we have proposed such an arrangement. If we impose a mandatory requirement on retail traders to keep sales records, it would entail a huge burden on them."
The Bill proposes that records be kept for a period of three months for live aquatic products and food with a shelf-life of three months or less; or 24 months for food with a shelf-life over three months, such as canned food. The DFEH will issue a Code of Practice on the record-keeping period of different food types for reference by food traders.
The Government has conducted extensive consultations with the public and traders on the Bill and received general support. To assess the implications of the Bill on the trade, in particular the small and medium enterprise food traders, the Food and Health Bureau appointed a consultant to conduct a Business Impact Assessment. After an in-depth study, the consultant considers that the legislative proposals are generally in line with overseas practices and the implications of the Bill on the operating costs of the trade would be minimal.
The spokesman said that after the commencement of the registration scheme, there will be a grace period of six months before the relevant penalty provisions for non-compliance take effect. This will allow sufficient time for traders to adapt to the new requirement.
Furthermore, the Bill will empower the Secretary for Food and Health to make regulations on import control for specific food types so as to regulate high-risk foods. The Government proposes to extend the existing import control to cover poultry eggs and aquatic products and is now consulting the trade. Following the passage of the Bill, the Government will introduce the relevant regulations into the Legislative Council.
Following the enactment of the amendment Ordinance in May 2009 to empower the DFEH to make orders to prohibit the supply and import of problem food and order the recall of such food, the Bill is a measure to further protect food safety.
The Bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council on June 2.
Ends/Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Issued at HKT 17:02
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