Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ7: Safety of food products imported from Japan

Following is a question by the Hon Chung Kwok-pan and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (June 10)

Question:

It has been reported that the United States Food and Drug Administration published an updated Import Alert on the 20th of last month, and continued to prohibit the import of Japanese food products which fail to pass the physical examination. The food products include milk, butter, milk-based formula, milk-based infant formula and other milk products, vegetables and vegetable products, rice, whole grain, fish, meat and poultry, venus clams, sea urchin, yuzu fruit, kiwi fruit and so on. This is because the food products concerned are at risk of radionuclide contamination as a result of the radionuclide contamination problem in Japan. It has also been reported that the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan announced last month that, starting from the 15th of last month, strict control over the import of Japanese food products would be imposed. Taiwan will continue to prohibit the import of food products from the five prefectures of Japan most affected by the Fukushima nuclear incident, namely Fukushima, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Chiba and Gunma. It also requires that certificates of origin must be presented for food products from other areas of Japan, while radiation inspection certificates must be produced for more than 800 food items in three classifications (including marine products, tea and baby food) from Tokyo Metropolis and Shizuoka Prefecture, before these food products may be imported into Taiwan. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the details of the work on testing of food products imported from Japan performed by the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in the past 12 months, and the number of food samples that failed to meet food safety standards (tabulate the information by type of food);

(2) how the authorities ensure the safety of food products imported from Japan; whether CFS will step up sample laboratory tests on those food products, particularly the radiation level of such food products;

(3) whether the authorities will, by making reference to the practices of the United States and Taiwan, require the production of certificates of origin for all the food products imported from Japan and prohibit the import of Japanese food products which fail to pass the radiation examination; and

(4) as it was reported last month that some food products from radiation-contaminated areas of Japan were imported via container terminals and put on the market without testing, whether the authorities will establish food inspection facilities for food products imported by sea so as to ensure that prohibited food products will not be imported into Hong Kong?

Reply:

President,

Hong Kong imports most of its food. The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) closely monitors, on a daily basis, food incidents in Hong Kong, the Mainland and other countries/places and takes actions accordingly to ensure food safety in Hong Kong.

Following the Fukushima nuclear power plant incident in Japan in 2011, CFS, according to a risk-based approach, has enhanced testing of food imported from Japan for radiation at the import, wholesale and retail levels. As at May 30, 2015, CFS tested more than 250 000 samples of Japanese food. Except for three unsatisfactory samples of vegetables from Chiba found on March 23, 2011, the test results of all samples were satisfactory. The three vegetable samples were disposed of and did not find their way into the local market. Besides, low levels of radioactivity were detected in 60 samples (including two vegetable samples, one dried mushroom sample, one blueberry juice sample, one oat sample and 55 tea product samples) but the levels did not exceed the Guideline Levels for Radionuclides in Foods Contaminated Following a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency (Guideline Levels) laid down by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex). Therefore, these food products would have no adverse effects on health.

After the above three samples of vegetables had been found to have radiation levels exceeding the Guideline Levels, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued an order under section 78B of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132) on March 24, 2011 to prohibit the import of vegetables and fruits, milk, milk beverages and milk powder from the five most affected prefectures of Japan, namely Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Chiba and Gunma. The import of all chilled or frozen game, meat and poultry, all poultry eggs and all live, chilled or frozen aquatic products from the five prefectures is also prohibited, unless they are accompanied by a certificate issued by the competent authority of Japan certifying that the radiation levels do not exceed the Guideline Levels. The aforesaid order is still in force. Anyone found to have contravened any terms of the order is liable to a maximum fine of $100,000 and imprisonment for up to 12 months. In April 2011, the Expert Committee on Food Safety held a special meeting to discuss food safety issues related to the nuclear incident in Japan. It considered that the CFS's risk management approach was appropriate and in line with the international consensus.

CFS has been paying close attention to the latest measures taken by other countries/places against food products imported from Japan. After the nuclear power plant incident in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011, the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published an Import Alert on its website in the same month. Since then, it has amended and updated the Import Alert for more than a dozen times to reflect the Japanese authorities' latest distribution restrictions on the types of local food which have been radioactively contaminated. Generally speaking, the US FDA has made various revisions to the control measures on the import of Japanese food after the incident, but the recent revisions were made to follow Japan's self-imposed export criteria and focused on relaxing the import control. CFS has not noticed any obvious tightening of control by the US on food products imported from Japan recently.

Since the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, Taiwan has banned the import of food from five prefectures of Japan, namely, Fukushima, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Chiba and Gunma. However, in March this year, the Taiwanese authorities found that some food products from the five prefectures of Japan, which were banned from import, had been exported to Taiwan with product labels indicating other prefectures of Japan as their origins. In view of this incident, the Taiwanese authorities announced that with effect from May 15, 2015, food imported from prefectures of Japan other than the five mentioned above must be accompanied by certificates of origin. Moreover, tea products, food products for infants and young children, dairy products and aquatic products, etc, produced in some regions in Japan are allowed to be imported into Taiwan only if they are accompanied by certificates of radiation inspection.

In late March, CFS took immediate follow-up actions in response to media reports on the illegal import of food products to Taiwan from the five prefectures in Japan, which was prohibited by the Taiwanese authorities. According to the information available on the website of the Taiwanese authorities, the food items in question include noodles, drinks, seasonings, sweets and biscuits. These food items are not covered by the import ban imposed by Hong Kong. CFS has proactively contacted the management of major supermarkets and chain retail outlets to find out if the products concerned had been imported into Hong Kong. Inspection at export/import and retail levels has also been enhanced to ascertain that the information provided on the labels of food imported from Japan is consistent with that (including the country of origin and the prefecture where the food was produced) provided by traders. CFS has not noticed any breaches so far.

My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:

(1) to (3) During the past 12 months from June 2014 to May this year, a total of over 66 000 samples of food imported from Japan were tested for radiation at the import, wholesale and retail levels. All the test results were satisfactory. Low levels of radioactivity were found only in two samples of tea products but the levels did not exceed the Codex Guideline Levels and therefore would have no adverse effects on health.

For the routine surveillance conducted to test the food imported from Japan for radiation, importers are required to provide information about the country of origin and indicate the prefecture where the food was produced to facilitate CFS's identification of food from the five Japanese prefectures on which import restrictions are imposed.

Taking into account the latest expert opinions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the established mechanism to monitor and assess import control measures imposed by other countries/places upon food products imported from Japan, CFS considers the existing control measures adequate for the protection of public health.

CFS will continue with its current risk-based strategy for surveillance of food products imported from Japan. It will also keep track of the situation of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan and the development in related regions, as well as the latest measures taken by other countries/places against food products imported from Japan. In the meantime, CFS will keep in view the recommendations made by international agencies including the World Health Organization and IAEA on the issue. Based on such recommendations, CFS will develop strategies for testing relevant food products, make timely adjustment to the strategies accordingly, and take necessary surveillance measures to ensure food safety and protect public health.

(4) Regarding Japanese food products imported by sea, the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) will notify CFS daily of the manifest data on food products imported from Japan. Importers will also provide relevant information to CFS which will then contact the relevant importers for radiation tests. CFS has taken action to review the existing import monitoring mechanism. To better monitor Japanese food products imported via container terminals, CFS is actively discussing with C&ED the possibility of setting up entry points at container terminals for testing food products imported by sea, with a view to enhancing the testing of these products to further safeguard food safety.

Ends/Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:55

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