As the mother of an 18-month-old baby, I am keenly aware of the importance of feeding her properly cooked foods.
However, with the recent scare about foot-and-mouth disease, claims it originated in this region, and the announcement on April 11 of the re-appearance of the H5N1 influenza virus, I am very worried about the safety standards for fresh food, particularly meat, available in Hong Kong.
From the report headlined 'Strain of deadly bird-flu virus detected' (South China Morning Post, April 12), it appears that four weeks passed between collecting the sample and discovering it was infected with the potentially deadly virus.
Surely there is a more rapid way of detecting such viruses.
The current method of testing indicates that infected birds are allowed to be sold at the market for a long time before the test results become available. The consequences of this for the poultry markets and public health could be catastrophic.
Perhaps someone from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department would like to comment on its testing strategy?
