Recipe for success: Secretary for Food & Health Dr York Chow said the Government will implement the expert group's recommendations on the melamine incident follow-up.

The Government will implement recommendations from an expert group on the melamine incident, including keeping in place special arrangements to cope with the fallout - including a hotline, screening service, food testing, notification and public announcements.

Endorsing the group's report today, Chief Secretary Henry Tang said the Government will soon introduce legislative measures to prohibit and recall unsafe food products from the market to enhance food safety in Hong Kong.

The expert group reviewed the work of concerned organisations and government departments in past weeks, including the comprehensive and systematic tests on milk and dairy products, hotline service, surveillance of cases, health screening for eligible children, and timely dissemination of information.

Major recommendations

On food tests, it recommends the Centre for Food Safety conduct a review at the end of the initial three-month period, to determine how targeted products testing should become part of the routine surveillance programme.

The group endorsed the centre's proposal to gradually adjust the quantity of the samples to be tested, from 100 a day to around 100 a week.

Secretary for Food & Health Dr York Chow, the expert group chairman, said the Centre for Food Safety will adopt a more targeted approach and increase emphasis on control at source in the second-round, two-week testing programme from late October to early November.

It will test more products with no milk content that may have been tainted with melamine, such as meat, vegetables and processed food. It will continue to test every consignment of raw and pasteurised milk and snacks with milk ingredients from the Mainland, as well as higher-risk products such as infant formula and food for pregnant or lactating women.

Mr Tang thanked the group for its valuable contribution and praised all the staff members working on food safety and health fronts for their prompt action and hard work in quickly containing the tainted milk problem. 

Anxiety allayed

The concerted efforts so far have helped allay the anxiety of worried consumers and parents, he said, adding public health services had been able to cope with the demand for services.

While the attendance rate of children for the screening service at the designated clinics and special assessment centres is now declining, the service will continue to operate for six months. The Centre for Health Protection hotline will run on weekdays and Saturday mornings.

"The Government accords top priority to ensuring the safety of milk and dairy products supplied to the community. We will remain highly vigilant by closely monitoring developments of the melamine incident and adopting all necessary measures to protect our citizens from the unwanted chemical," Mr Tang said.

On September 23, subsidiary legislation was made to impose stringent limits on melamine contained in food.

To enhance our food safety system, Dr Chow said his bureau will introduce legislative amendments to the Public Health & Municipal Services Ordinance in Novemeber to empower authorities to recall and prohibit the import and sale of food products unfit for public consumption.

He said the three sub-groups will closely monitor the recommendations' implementation and report progress to the expert group in three months.