Mainland unlikely to issue certificates to show poultry products are free of chemical
The mainland is unlikely to institute a certification system in the near future assuring that eggs sold into the city's market are melamine-free, government sources say.
That comes after the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department's admission yesterday that regulations governing the fitness for consumption of eggs imported from the mainland were only administrative measures, and that there were no laws regulating egg imports.
Secretary for Food and Health York Chow Yat-ngok last month asked the central government's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine to consider issuing export certificates for eggs that passed melamine tests. The move followed revelations that some mainland eggs contained the toxic chemical, which can cause kidney stones.
But a government source said yesterday that preliminary 'signals' from mainland authorities indicated that the proposal was unlikely to be realised. 'We don't know if there will be a review of the food system in the mainland in the long run,' the source said. 'But making 'melamine-free' a new requirement on egg health certificates is, at least, not seen as feasible in the short run.'
It is understood mainland authorities consider the possible impact of such a change as being too big.
'Eggs are common food items exported to many countries,' the source said. 'Hong Kong is only a small place in the whole global market, so it is difficult for mainland authorities to upset the whole system just to fulfil a request from Hong Kong.