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The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (July 13) announced that it will adopt a more stringent radiological standard for testing the safety of imported bottled/packaged water starting from August 1. The new standard will apply to bottled/packaged water imported from all countries, including Japan.
A CFS spokesman remarked that the adoption of this new standard for routine surveillance aligns with the standard used by the Water Supplies Department (WSD) in the routine monitoring of the water quality of the water supply system in Hong Kong, and will further safeguard public health in the long run.
The CFS considers it appropriate to adopt the radiological standard for international trade laid down by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) for bottled/packaged waters under routine conditions (without nuclear incident) after taking into account international standards, risk assessment and other relevant factors.
"The Codex standard for bottled/packaged waters states that these products should comply with the health-related requirements of the most recent 'Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality' published by the World Health Organization (WHO), including the radiological standard. The guidance level for iodine-131, caesium-134 and caesium-137 stipulated in the Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality published is 10 Becquerel per litre (Bq/L) respectively. The sum of the radiation level should not exceed 10 Bq/L if multiple radionuclides are detected in one sample. The WSD has also been following WHO's 'Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality' as the standards for the quality of drinking water in Hong Kong," the spokesman said.
The standard currently adopted by the CFS in testing the radiation levels of food including bottled/packaged water (i.e. 100 Bq/kg for iodine-131, and 1,000 Bq/kg for caesium-134 and caesium-137) is based on the guideline levels for radionuclides in food following a nuclear or radiological emergency, laid down by the Codex in the General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed.
"The Expert Committee on Food Safety (Expert Committee), which consists of food experts from overseas and the Mainland as well as local experts, supported the CFS' adoption of the new radiological standard for bottled/packaged water," he said.
"For other food commodities, the Expert Committee noted that there is no standard for routine conditions laid down by the Codex and agreed that the CFS should continue to adopt the guideline levels stipulated in the Codex General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed for import control of imported food," the spokesman added.
According to the Codex, when radionuclide levels in food do not exceed the aforesaid guideline levels, the food should be considered safe for human consumption.
The CFS has also consulted the trade on the new radiological standard for imported bottled/packaged water.
The CFS has stepped up regulatory control of food products imported from Japan since the day of the Fukushima nuclear incident. So far, no bottled/packaged water imported from Japan has been detected with radionuclides, the spokesman said.
The CFS will continue its surveillance on food imported from Japan and upload the test results, including those with radiation level below Codex guideline levels, onto the CFS website (www.cfs.gov.hk) on working days.
Ends/Friday, July 13, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:31
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