Mandatory use-by date being considered for food
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department is considering making it mandatory to display a use-by date on all foods.
At present the rules vary for different types of food, with some perishable products requiring a use-by or expiry date while a best-before date is acceptable on others.
A senior official revealed the plan yesterday amid calls for tighter controls after long-expired food products were found for sale this week.
Assistant director for food surveillance and control Thomas Chung Wai-hung said the move would need a change to the law but the department was willing to discuss it with concerned parties.
It is not illegal to sell food past its best-before date unless there is a health risk but it is strictly forbidden to sell food that has expired.
There have been calls for the government to tighten label controls since expired products, many scavenged from refuse-collection sites, were found on sale in Ap Liu Street, Shamshuipo, on Wednesday.
'Any amendment to the existing labelling policy will mean a legislation amendment,' Mr Chung said on a radio show. 'But we are willing to discuss with academics, the [retail] industry and food producers to see if such a review is feasible.'
York Chow Yat-ngok, the secretary for health, welfare and food, said the government was 'willing' to review its policy but stressed the existing measures were sufficient to ensure food safety.
'There isn't a big problem in the existing legislation because different types of food should be labelled differently, according to its freshness duration,' he said.
'But if the consumers find the existing measures insufficient, we will consider reviewing them.'
Dr Chow also said the government would continue checking food sellers to see if they displayed expired items, and penalties imposed on those who broke the law.
Legislator Fred Li Wah-ming said a review would be good news to consumers as the existing law only targeted food indicated by its use-by date, and not those with best-before dates.
'Merging two dates into only one use-by date will facilitate the public to find out the quality of the food,' said Mr Li, chairman of the Legislative Council's hygiene panel.
'It will be very constructive if it is enforced,' he said.
Meanwhile, complaints about overdue food - sparked by the Shamshuipo case - continued to come in.
A Mr Lam called into a phone-in programme, saying he had seen some canned food six months beyond its use-by date in a supermarket in Sha Tin.
He said that when he asked a store worker about it, he was told he could buy the canned products for $7, instead of the original price of $11.
'It was outrageous and I asked her, 'How can you sell expired items to people'?' Mr Lam said.
'It was only after I said this that she said she would take those cans off the shelf.'
