HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach^[1] - 23 August 2019 -GS1 Hong Kong (GS1 HK) hosted the Food Safety Forum 2019 with the theme "Technology, Innovation, and Food Safety" today, attracting more than 300 food industry stakeholders to exchange ideas on how to capitalise on innovation and technology to improve traceability and enhance food safety. Ms. Lau Lee Kwan, Vivian, JP, Director of Food & Environmental Hygiene was invited as the Guest of Honour, whereas Ms. Erica Ng, JP, Deputy Secretary for Food and Health (Food)2 and Hon Peter Shiu Ka-fai, Legislative Councilor and Deputy Chairman of Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene also joined as Award Presenters. Representative from the Centre of Food Safety (CFS) disclosed a Food Trader Portal will be launched late this year to strengthen import control and facilitate food trade, which GS1 HK will provide support. The Award Presentation Ceremony for Quality Food Traceability Scheme 2019 was also held, where 20 companies were recognized for demonstrating excellence in food safety and traceability practices.

(From left to right) Ms. Erica Ng, Deputy Secretary for Food and Health (Food)2, Ms. Anna Lin, Chief Executive of GS1 Hong Kong, Ms. Vivian Lau, Director of Food & Environmental Hygiene, Hon. Peter Shiu, Legislative Councilor and Deputy Chairman of Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene and Ms. May Chung, HK Food & Beverage Industry Advisory Board of GS1 HK and General Manager of Nestlé Hong Kong Limited, attended today's Food Safety Forum 2019 as the honourable guests. 

95% of the total food supply in Hong Kong is imported from all over the world. The growing complexity of the global food supply chain has only been adding up to the risk for food safety in Hong Kong. Technology thus plays a key role in promoting food safety. Ms. Vivian Lau said in her opening speech, "The Food and Environmental Hygiene and the Centre for Food Safety are committed to embracing technology and innovation to improve public service delivery, and we are in close partnership with everybody in the food industry to enhance food safety. CFS is now working full steam ahead to develop and revamp its information technology systems to achieve better efficiency and seek improvements in a wide range of functions, including food import control, surveillance, food incident management and traceability."

Centre of Food Safety Revealed the Launch of Food Trader Portal Soon

Mr. Tse Lai Chi, Manager of the Centre for Food Safety, gave details about its soon-to-be-launched "Food Trader Portal" at the Forum. The Portal can manage matters ranging from the handling of applications on food import to issuing instructions on food inspection and sample collection arrangements electronically.

Beneficial to both regulatory authority and food traders, the Portal allows traders to submit applications and check status anytime, anywhere, without the need to interface with every single government department, helping to reduce time and operational cost. The Portal's complete and comprehensive database helps the authority to track-and-trace any food supply sources more quickly and accurately, reinforcing its risk management operation and realising better damage control. The Portal is part of the HKSAR Government's Trade Single Window system, which will be the Government-wide one-stop online kiosk for trade declaration and customs clearance.

GS1 HK will cooperate with CFS and incorporate our platforms to the Portal, providing higher efficiency for CFS's operations and facilitating the trade for deployment.

Enterprises Commit to Upholding Food Supply Chain Transparency

The 5^th edition of Quality Food Traceability Scheme marked the achievement of 20 food-related companies, among which 7 of them participated for 5 consecutive years. They all contributed to uplifting the local food safety level, promoting product quality standard, enhancing food value chain and operation visibility. It also indicates the increasing importance of food traceability from the perspectives of the industry and customers. (See Appendix I for full winner list)

The Scheme is designed to help local food and food services companies to enhance their track and trace capabilities along the supply chain, and effectively adopt international standards for their food management systems thereby boosting consumer's confidence. Diamond, Gold and Silver Enterprise Awards are presented to the recognised companies based on the audit results.

Speaking of the Scheme, Ms. Anna Lin, GS1 HK's Chief Executive, commented, "Congratulations to all the Scheme winners, especially to those who won "5 Consecutive Years' Award", they have demonstrated long-term efforts and commitment in upholding food traceability, elevating the food safety level for the city. I hope every member in the industry would beef up their traceability measures, not only to fulfill regulatory requirements, but also help react to incidents efficiently and boost consumer trust on the brands."

Ms. May Chung, Chairperson of Hong Kong Food & Beverage Industry Advisory Board of GS1 HK and General Manager of Nestlé HK Ltd., echoed her point of view and added, "I believe food safety is a shared responsibility, so it is important to all of the stakeholders in the community to foster closer partnerships towards reduced food safety risks, leveraging innovation and technology. Our Board is looking forward to bringing more F&B stakeholders together to uplift the food supply chain and safety standards, making a difference to the city."

Appendix I --

Quality Food Traceability Scheme 2019 Winner List (in alphabetical order)

References

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