The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) today (March 24) reminded members of the public to be cautious and pay attention to the delivery time and temperature control of the food when ordering cross-boundary meals delivered by agents. The CFS and Hong Kong Customs today stepped up publicity and education to remind members of the public of the related matters.

     A CFS spokesman said that meals that need to be delivered over a long distance will be prone to spoilage during the delivery process if there is no proper control over food storage temperature and delivery time.

     The spokesman said, "Most pathogenic bacteria grow and multiply rapidly at the temperature danger zone between 4 degrees Celsius and 60 degrees C. To ensure food safety, hot food and cold food should be kept above 60 degrees C and at or below 4 degrees C respectively during delivery process. If meals are kept within the temperature danger zone, the two-hour and four-hour principle should be followed (i.e. if prepared food is kept at room temperature for less than two hours, it can be refrigerated for later use; if cooked food has been held at room temperature for more than four hours, it should be discarded)."

     The spokesman also reminded members of the public that they should order delivered meals from reliable online shops and pay attention to the types of food and the food safety risks possibly associated with. The public can visit the website (cfs.gov.hk/onlinefood) for more advice on the safety of purchasing food online.

     In addition, according to the Imported Game, Meat, Poultry and Eggs Regulations (Chapter 132AK), it is an offence to bring any game, meat, poultry or eggs into Hong Kong without health certificate issued by an issuing entity of the place of origin and/or without prior written permission granted by the FEHD. An offender shall be liable on conviction to a fine of HK$50,000 and to imprisonment for six months. As at yesterday (March 23), during the joint operations mounted by the CFS and Hong Kong Customs this year, 158 cases involving individual passengers illegally bringing in regulated foods were recorded, and prosecution work is in progress.

Ends/Friday, March 24, 2023
Issued at HKT 23:03

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