The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (October 10) that a carton of six netted melons from Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan was illegally imported into Hong Kong, breaching the relevant Food Safety Order. None of the product concerned has entered the market. The CFS is following up on the case.

     A spokesman for the CFS said, "The CFS inspected a consignment of food imported from Japan and found the abovementioned product from Ibaraki Prefecture therein was not accompanied with a radiation certificate and an exporter certificate issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan, breaching the relevant Food Safety Order. The Centre has taken a sample of the product concerned for testing of the radiation level and no radiation has been detected. The product concerned has been disposed of.

     "According to the Order, the import of vegetables, fruits, milk, milk beverages and dried milk from four Japanese prefectures, namely Ibaraki, Tochigi, Chiba and Gunma, must be accompanied with radiation certificates and exporter certificates issued by the MAFF of Japan. The CFS conducts a radiation test on each consignment of Japanese food imported, and requires importers not to sell the products until the test result turns out to be satisfactory. The aforementioned illegal import was detected by the CFS during inspection and the product concerned did not enter the market. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the CFS' gate-keeping work."

    The CFS will continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action, including informing the Japanese authorities concerned of the incident. Prosecution will be instituted against the importer concerned should there be sufficient evidence. Investigation is ongoing.

Ends/Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Issued at HKT 19:28

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