A new food recall law would allow Hong Kong to ban the sale of food items suspected of causing health problems even before laboratory tests are available, a senior government source has said.
The source said the law would define the 'reasonable doubt' that would warrant a mandatory recall. It would also allow destruction of confirmed tainted goods.
The Food and Health Bureau decided to speed up the recall bill in light of the mainland milk powder contamination crisis.
At present, the government lacks the power to prohibit the import and sale of problematic food and order a recall when it is suspected to have posed a serious public health hazard.
It can only seize and remove the items, meaning that suppliers can stock them and sell them somewhere else. In 2005 and 2006, the government found the cancer-causing chemical malachite green in freshwater fish, but could only announce a voluntary recall.
'The new bill will allow us to recall food items in question and destroy them,' the source said. 'It will empower us to stop the sale of food items as long as we have a reasonable doubt that they are unfit for human consumption.'
The source said a key clause in the bill would determine what a 'reasonable doubt' was, saying that it should be defined by food and health authorities, amid concerns vagueness might give rise to abuse or sabotage.
