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SCMP Reporter

FOOD bombarded with radiation to kill bacteria or insects will be regulated for the first time in Hong Kong under amended labelling laws to come in by the end of the year.

  Any food supplier wanting to import irradiated food will have to label the product to alert the consumer, said Health Department assistant director of hygiene, Dr Leung Pak-yin.

  Irradiated food is sold in the United States, China, Thailand, Japan and some European countries and lobby groups are seeking wider use of the controversial technology.

  But consumer groups are concerned about misuse of the technique to 'clean up' bug-infested food, alteration of the food's composition, radioactive residue left behind, and loss of proteins and vitamins.

  Much research had been done by consumer groups and 'we share their concerns', said Kenneth So Wai-ming of the Consumer Council.

  Irradiation can be used:   To kill or sterilise insects after harvesting or at ports to ensure bug-free fruit and vegetables.

  To kill bacteria and moulds, particularly in poultry, meat, seafood, herbs and spices including Chinese medicines.

  To slow sprouting in root vegetables and ripening and ageing in fruit, lengthening shelf-life and allowing certain foods to be sold out of season.

  To sterilise non-food items, particularly medical equipment, blood for transfusions and bone marrow for transplants.

  Dr Leung argued rotten food could not be disguised by using irradiation and that a slight loss of nutrients had to be balanced against making food safer.

  The US Centre for Disease Control has said 'nutrient retention of irradiated foods is comparable to that of heat-processed foods'.

  Radiation dosage was low and any ionisation of the food produced 'transient' molecular changes, Dr Leung said.

  The Government says no irradiated food is sold in Hong Kong - but admits it is difficult to test, so it could not tell if irradiated food was on the shelves.

  No firms had yet inquired about importing irradiated food and there were no plants in Hong Kong, said Dr Leung. Legislation requiring that irradiated food be labelled, currently being drafted, would be put to the Legislative Council during the next session, he said.

  The Government would also produce leaflets and public information films to explain what irradiated food was once it received requests from companies to import it, he said.

  'The labelling requirement is important for consumer choice,' he said, 'but the consumer needs to know more about the process.'    He claimed that contact between Hong Kong and exporting country authorities would allow the Government to keep tabs on where irradiated food was available and what was likely to come to Hong Kong.

  Random checks at the border for abnormally low bacterial counts in food could indicate suspect imports, he said.

  Plants in China irradiate rice, sausages, garlic, potatoes, herbs and ginseng used in Chinese medicine, spices and tobacco, according to Gerry Defalco, director for the Asia-Pacific region of Nordion International, an irradiation equipment company.

  Both he and Dr Leung emphasised that radiation did not kill all bacteria, and chemicals such as toxins they produce and pesticides are not affected.

  'The process of cooking at high temperature will still be needed. We are talking about measures to reduce the bacterial count, to make it better,' said Dr Leung.

   US food groups have strongly urged that chickens be irradiated to reduce high salmonella counts, a major reason for the 168 outbreaks of food poisoning in Hong Kong in 1993 (the latest figures available), which affected 862 people.

  And about 25 per cent of grains around the world are lost to mould and funguses, said Mr Defalco.

  Consumer associations argue that problems such as salmonella should be dealt with at source by better handling and feeding of chickens.

  'Rather than patch up the food and farming industries with more and more interventionist processes - with more and more potential side-effects - we need to be looking at the whole food chain from soil to dinner-table,' says the Australian Consumers' Association.

  But because the technique was expensive, adding 'a few cents per pound' to the food cost, it would not be used indiscriminately, said Mr Defalco.

  'It will always be a specialised tool.' 



Labelling laws to be amended