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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Helena Wong and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (June 22):
Question:
Under the Food Hygiene Code issued by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the food business sector is required to ensure that potentially hazardous food is stored at or below 4¢XC. Moreover, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) has recommended in its Risk Assessment Studies on Microbiological Quality of Prepackaged Long Shelf Life Refrigerated Products that the food business sector should ensure that an adequately refrigerated environment (i.e. at or below 4¢XC) is provided for refrigerated products at various stages of the supply chain (the 4¢XC temperature standard). Regarding the regulation of storage of food at standard temperatures, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that it is stipulated in section 13 of the Milk Regulation (Cap. 132AQ) that milk or milk beverage pending sale should be kept at or below 10¢XC, but such temperature requirement is different from the 4¢XC temperature standard, whether retail shops, in storing milk and milk beverage at a temperature between 4¢XC and 10¢XC, have already complied with all legal requirements; if so, of the justifications for that, and whether the authorities will amend section 13 of the Milk Regulation to align such temperature requirement with the 4¢XC temperature standard;
(2) of the details of the law enforcement actions taken by the authorities in the past three years on whether the storage of milk or milk beverage pending sale was in compliance with the temperature requirement stipulated in section 13 of the Milk Regulation;
(3) whether it has conducted any study on the shelf life of various types of perishable food, including (i) how the shelf life of such food being stored at a temperature between 4¢XC and 10¢XC compares with that of the food being stored at a temperature between 0¢XC and below 4¢XC, and (ii) whether the bacteria counts of such food being stored at a temperature between 4¢XC and 10¢XC will exceed those stipulated in the relevant food safety standards before the dates on the "use by" date labels; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will conduct studies in this regard;
(4) whether it has plans to impose statutory requirements on the refrigerating temperatures for perishable food other than milk products (including sandwiches and sushi); if it has such plans, of the proposed temperature requirements; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it has conducted reviews in this regard;
(5) of the measures in place to ensure that the temperatures of refrigerating devices for storage of perishable food at retail shops are constantly in compliance with the statutory requirements;
(6) given that CFS has all along been collecting samples of milk products and frozen confections only at import and local production levels for microbiological tests, whether CFS will consider collecting samples of such food at retail level for tests so as to ensure that such food meets the food safety standards;
(7) given that the results of the "Fridge territory-wide System Assessment" released by the World Wide Fund For Nature Hong Kong in January this year found that of over 8 500 display refrigerators at 640 retail shops inspected, over half of them were designed without doors, and the temperatures of a vast majority of these doorless refrigerators (94 per cent) were higher than 5¢XC as recommended by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States, and individual locations inside the refrigerators even recorded a temperature as high as 11.4¢XC, whether CFS has regularly deployed staff to measure the temperatures of display refrigerators at retail shops such as convenience stores, supermarkets, etc.; and
(8) given that currently retail shops in general rely on built-in digital thermometers of commercial refrigerators for monitoring temperatures inside the refrigerators, but temperatures at different locations inside the refrigerators may vary, whether the authorities will draw up temperature monitoring guidelines so as to ensure that retail shops refrigerate food at temperatures that comply with the required standards, and recommend to retail shops safe and reliable methods for temperature monitoring; if they will, of the details; if not; the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The objective of the Food Hygiene Code (Code) published by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) is to provide a set of model requirements to help food business achieve, in a more effective manner, compliance with the food regulations as enshrined in the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132) and its subsidiary legislation, and attain a higher standard of food hygiene and food safety. Food safety could be further enhanced if the industry could, in addition to complying with requirements under the law, make reference to the content of the Code and adopt the correct methods for handling and storing food. My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) and (3) Under section 13 of the Milk Regulation (Cap. 132AQ), milk or a milk beverage, except sterilised milk or a sterilised milk beverage in sealed containers, must be kept below 10¢XC pending sale. As such, the storage of milk or milk beverages by retail shops below 10¢XC for the purpose of sale is in compliance with the current statutory requirements. Permit/licence holders selling milk or milk beverages are required under the relevant permit/licence conditions to store the milk or milk beverages in refrigerators with a temperature below 10¢XC, preferably between 0¢XC and 4¢XC so as to further ensure food safety apart from complying with the basic requirements under the law.
The trade, particularly the manufacturers, is most familiar with the nature of its products and the storage instructions, including the storage temperature, for retaining the specific properties of its products until the expiry of the stated shelf life. The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of FEHD advises the public and the trade of the need to follow the manufacturers' instructions for storing food including milk products and other high-risk food items for retaining their specific properties until the expiry of the stated shelf life.
The CFS will keep abreast of international developments, and review the relevant food safety legislation and regulatory mechanism as and when appropriate.
(2) FEHD does not have any record on instituting prosecution against violation of section 13 of the Milk Regulation in the past three years.
(4) At present, in addition to milk or milk beverages which must be kept at a specified temperature pending sale, frozen confections intended for sale for human consumption (other than soft ice cream) must also be kept below -2¢XC according to section 10 of the Frozen Confections Regulation (Cap 132AC).
In addition, apart from the need to maintain the food storage temperature required by the relevant legislation, the Code recommends that potentially hazardous food (i.e. food that requires temperature control to minimise the growth of any pathogenic micro organisms that may be present or to prevent the formation of toxin; such as sandwiches and sushi, etc. ) should be:
(i) stored at 4¢XC or below for food to be served cold (or at 60¢XC or above for food to be served hot).
(ii) frozen if they are intended to be stored frozen (preferably stored at -18¢XC or below).
(5), (7) and (8) According to the Food Business Regulation (Cap.132X), any person who intends to sell restricted food such as frozen confections and milk or milk beverages in Hong Kong must obtain written permission from the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene before the commencement of such business. The relevant licensing conditions require the provision of refrigerators with built-in thermometers indicating the temperature inside the refrigerators, and all frozen confections and milk or milk beverages must be stored in the refrigerators at the specified temperatures or below. During inspections of permitted/licensed food premises, apart from checking the cleanliness and maintenance conditions of the refrigerators, functioning of the built-in thermometers and the temperature indicated, FEHD officers will use hand-held portable infrared thermometers to measure the temperature inside the refrigerators, with a view to ensuring that the permit/licence holders comply with the relevant licensing conditions and statutory requirements. FEHD officers will, depending on the circumstances of individual cases, issue warnings or initiate prosecutions against the permit/licence holders for any irregularities found. In case of persistent breaches, the relevant food business licence/permit will be suspended or cancelled.
Apart from carrying out regular maintenance for the refrigerators installed on food premises, personnel of the food business may use hand-held portable thermometers to measure the temperature inside the refrigerators on a regular basis so as to ensure that the equipment concerned is operating properly and in compliance with the relevant licensing conditions and statutory requirements.
(6) The CFS takes food samples at the import, wholesale and retail levels for chemical and microbiological tests under the routine risk-based Food Surveillance Programme to ensure their compliance with the safety standard required under the law. Between January 2015 and March 2016, the CFS took 5 560 samples of milk, milk beverages and frozen confections for microbiological tests. The results were satisfactory except for 20 samples, including seven from milk and milk beverages and 13 from frozen confections, in which the bacterial and coliform counts were not in compliance with the statutory requirements. The CFS has taken follow-up actions on all of the cases by announcing the test results, tracking the source of supply of the food in question, requesting sellers to remove the products from the shelves and initiating prosecution against the sellers concerned.
Ends/Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:52
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