Food law could cut fugu from menus

The government is considering banning imports of high-risk foods such as live fugu under a proposed food safety bill, according to a top official.

'Because in Hong Kong, unlike in Japan, we don't have as many trained cooks [familiar with live fugu, which if prepared incorrectly can be fatal],' the director of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Cheuk Wing-hing, said. 'There is at least one case last year that someone prepared the fish themselves [and got poisoned], which is very dangerous.'

The bill, which aimed to control some food items, mainly aquatic products, not regulated at present, would be tabled for discussion in the Legislative Council in the second quarter of next year, Cheuk said.

Frozen or dried fugu and other less risky foods such as live freshwater fish and shellfish could still be imported under the bill, as long as importers could provide health certificates for the products issued by authorities at their source.

For fish caught in the wild, fishermen would have to record where they were caught, he said. Other low-risk products, such as canned fish, could still be imported freely.

There have been sporadic poisonings associated with fugu, or puffer fish, in the city over the years.