A survey showing food at some supermarkets was past its sell-by date has sparked a call for the Government to review labelling systems. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong carried out a survey of 53 supermarkets and convenience stores last month. They found 25 outdated items of food, some of which had expired by more than three months. Of the items, which included frozen meat, fruit juice, canned food, dim sum and microwave food, 13 had passed their 'best before' dates while 12 had passed their 'sell by' dates, Sha Tin District Councillor Pang Cheung-wai said. However, the sale of food which has passed 'best before' dates does not breach the Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) Regulations. Mr Pang said the present labelling system was confusing and called for labelling to be unified. 'We have three types of labelling at the moment, ['best before', 'use by' and 'packaging date'] and this has to be improved. Labels should be changed and unified to 'use before this date'. This would protect consumers' interests.' The Government has carried out 16,500 checks on supermarkets in the past three years. Only 65 prosecutions were made over labelling with an average fine of $5,000. Mr Pang urged the Government to launch more raids. He also urged people to pay attention to dates especially when buying food at discounted prices.
