Food Safety: Hong Kongs Experience Food Safety: Hong Kongs - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

food safety hong kong s experience food safety hong kong
SMART_READER_LITE
LIVE PREVIEW

Food Safety: Hong Kongs Experience Food Safety: Hong Kongs - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Food Safety: Hong Kongs Experience Food Safety: Hong Kongs Experience Clement Leung Hong Kong Commissioner to the United States The Brookings Institution April 28, 2016 1 1 Food Safety: Hong Kongs Experience Food Safety: Hong


slide-1
SLIDE 1

1

Food Safety: Hong Kong’s Experience Food Safety: Hong Kong’s Experience

Clement Leung Hong Kong Commissioner to the United States

The Brookings Institution April 28, 2016

1

slide-2
SLIDE 2

Food Safety: Hong Kong’s Experience Food Safety: Hong Kong’s Experience

  • Overview of Hong Kong’s food safety

regulatory system

  • Our cooperation with Mainland China
  • Challenges of regulators and businesses

2

slide-3
SLIDE 3

Background Background

  • “One Country, Two Systems”
  • Full autonomy in administering food safety;

e.g. treatment of U.S. beef products

  • Imports 90% of food, 60% from Mainland

China (fresh produce, live food animals)

3

slide-4
SLIDE 4

HK’s Food Safety System: 4 Pillars HK’s Food Safety System: 4 Pillars

  • Legislation and enforcement
  • Risk management and surveillance
  • Risk communication
  • International cooperation

4

slide-5
SLIDE 5

Legislation and Enforcement Legislation and Enforcement

  • Rule-based, specified limits on harmful

substances

  • Registration of all food importers and

suppliers, and record keeping

  • Powers to impose ban or mandatory recall
  • All food establishments to be licensed
  • Labelling of ingredients/nutrition information
  • Centre for Food Safety: multi-discipline team

5

slide-6
SLIDE 6

Risk Management and Surveillance Risk Management and Surveillance

  • Regular, targeted, thematic, and seasonal

surveillance

  • 65,000 samples tested every year/9 samples

per 1,000 population. Over 99% satisfactory

  • Results released monthly with details and

posted on-line (immediate alert if serious)

  • Contingency plans, exercises and drills (e.g.

nuclear incidents, avian flu, etc.)

6

slide-7
SLIDE 7

Risk Communication Risk Communication

  • Experts, food trade, and general public
  • Over 85% households have broadband access,

mobile penetration 240%

  • Web site, Facebook, Apps, eNews, email/SMS

notifications – about 43,000 active accounts

  • Trade consultation forums and consumer

liaison groups

  • Strategy: open and transparent

7

slide-8
SLIDE 8

International Cooperation International Cooperation

  • Alerts from overseas jurisdictions of food

incidents in exporting countries

  • Monitor international food safety events and

assess potential impact on HK

  • World Health Organization, Codex, World

Organization for Animal Health

  • Expert Committee with HK, Mainland and
  • verseas experts

8

slide-9
SLIDE 9

Cooperation with Mainland China Cooperation with Mainland China

  • Registered farms and plants to qualify for

export to Hong Kong, health certificates, documentary trail

  • Visit to farms and plants by HK inspectors
  • Agreed communication channels and

protocols for handling incidents (e.g. unsatisfactory samples)

  • Not just “One Country, Two Systems”, but also

“One Country, Two Pigs”

9

slide-10
SLIDE 10

Challenges: Build Legal Challenges: Build Legal Framework Framework

  • Don’t make perfect the enemy of good
  • Go for something that can be implemented

and complied with

  • Prepare to make trade-offs: stable supply,

compliance cost, private sector capability, grace periods, phased implementation

10

slide-11
SLIDE 11

Challenges: Build Trust Challenges: Build Trust

  • Credibility is everything, but … people

inherently do not trust regulators

  • The more you test, the more problems you

find

  • People believe in bad news rather than good

news

  • “You must be hiding something from us”

11

slide-12
SLIDE 12

Challenges: Build Trust Challenges: Build Trust

  • “When did you first know about it? Why has it

taken so long to tell us?”

  • “You should have found it first”
  • “You should have found it earlier”
  • “Powell Doctrine”: deploy overwhelming strike

capability during a major food safety crisis

  • Examples: Fukushima, low iodine infant

formula

12

slide-13
SLIDE 13

Challenges: Build Capacity Challenges: Build Capacity

  • Food safety is a very intensive government
  • peration
  • Build capacity in the field but also tackle other

systemic weakness: business ethics, rule of law, transparency, accountability, coordination within government, etc.

  • Long process: took Hong Kong more than 30

years to get to where we are

13

slide-14
SLIDE 14

Role of Businesses Role of Businesses

  • Responsibilities and opportunities
  • Private sector can help upgrade skills, self-

regulate and provide reality check

  • Rising middle class and growing market for

quality, branded food products

  • Chinese enterprises to “Go Global” for know-

how and technology

  • Food industry a major victim of food incidents

and a key partner to clean up the act

14

slide-15
SLIDE 15

Prospects of Reform Prospects of Reform

  • The building blocks are there – need to scale

up

  • Challenges: 1.3 billion people, vast country,

small producers and suppliers, economy in transition, systemic issues

  • Start with large cities first?
  • “One Country, One Pig”?

15