Government Laboratory

Analytical and Advisory Services Division

Responsibilities

The Division has major scientific and statutory commitments in food safety and environmental pollution monitoring, commodities testing for health and safety evaluation, as well as protection of revenue and consumer interests. The work involved frequently requires special investigations, or could be purely consultative for which no examination is needed. With an analytical team over 170 professionals and technicians in this division, close to 400,000 tests are completed each year, mostly upon the request of other Government Departments or public bodies.

Organization

The Division presently consists of two functional Groups each comprising a number of specialist Sections. The two Groups are:

• Food Safety and Quality Group
• Other Scientific Services Group

Food Safety and Quality Group

The Group, headed directly by Assistant Government Chemist of the Division, with the assistance of a Senior Chemist in-charge for administrative co-ordination, mainly deals with the testing of food for Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. The Group consists of 7 sections with 5 Food Safety Sections, Trace Elements Section and Quality Management Section.

The Group comprises the following Sections, each of which is headed by a Senior Chemist.

• Additives, Contaminants and Composition Section
• Residues Section
• Food Complaint Section
• Outsourcing Management Section
• Strategic Development Section
• Trace Elements Section
• Quality Management Section

Other Scientific Services Group

The Group, headed by a Chief Chemist, provides specialized technical and advisory services on matters relating to the analysis of drugs, Chinese medicines, environmental samples etc. Air, water, waste and sediment samples are routinely analyzed for a range of parameters, in relation to background monitoring, special studies and illegal discharges under various Ordinances for air and water polution control and waste disposal. Technical support and advice are also given to other government departments concerning classification and analysis of dangerous goods, specification tests for government purchases, and occupational safety issues.

Chief Chemist : Ms. Siliva Y K Tam (Tel. No.: 2762-3879 E-mail: syktam@govtlab.gov.hk)

The Group consists of the following sections each led by a Senior Chemist.

• Chemical Weapons Convention Section
• Chinese Medicines Section
• Environmental Chemistry A Section
• Environmental Chemistry B Section
• Pharmaceutical Chemistry Section
• Pharmaceutical Quality and Investigation Section
• Product Testing and Dutiable Commodities Section
• Trade Descriptions Section
• Radiochemistry, Hazardous Substances and Emergency Response Section

Data System

The Laboratory has an integrated laboratory instrumentation network connecting major instruments to individual user workstations. Internal communication is via the Local Area Network serving over 200 users. A centralized sample information management system maintains all the records of incoming samples and outgoing reports. Other functions of the system include the tracking and status report for individual samples, as well as various workload statistics.

Quality Assurance

The Division has successfully adopted a quality system in compliance with the ISO/IEC 17025 requirements since January 2002. All the tests previously accredited to the ISO/IEC Guide 25 have been confirmed to the ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation status under the Hong Kong Laboratory Accreditation scheme. The Laboratory holds regular in-house seminars and training classes for various grades of staff. Within the ambit of our resource, open seminars with prominent scientists as guest speakers are also held for the local testing communities from time to time.

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