Government Laboratory

Analytical and Advisory Services Division

Food Safety B Section

About the Section

The Section mainly provides analytical and advisory services to support the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department for the protection of public health and safety and for support of its statutory functions under various regulations and ordinances. Major areas of work include the examination of trace levels of contaminants and additives in imported and locally manufactured food samples. The wholesomeness of food products are also verified in the event of complaints. Analytical reports produced by the Section are admissible in courts of law as evidence of compliance or otherwise with the legislative requirements.

Responsibilities

The Section helps to implement the following legislations:

Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance
Colouring Matter in Food Regulations
Sweeteners in Food Regulations
Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) Regulations
Preservatives in Food Regulations
Evidence Ordinance

Key Personnel

Senior Chemist : Mr. W C Sham (Tel. No.: 2762-3876 E-mail : wcsham@govtlab.gov.hk)

Chemist (E-mail address)	Tel. No.
Mr. Benedict L S Chen, Chemist (benchen@govtlab.gov.hk)	2762-3746
Dr. Jasmine P K Lau, Chemist (pklau2@govtlab.gov.hk)	2762-3853
Dr. M F Lo, Chemist (mflo@govtlab.gov.hk)	2762-3853

Quality Assurance

Typical percentage of quality control samples analysed: 10%

This section also participates on a regular basis in the inter-laboratory proficiency testing programmes organized by Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs of UK, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and Laboratory of the Government Chemist of UK etc.

Key Instruments

The following instruments are used routinely by the Section:

Automatic Gel Permeation Chromatograph
Gas Chromatographs with various detectors
Gas Chromatographs coupled with High Resolution Mass Spectrometer
High Performance Liquid Chromatographs with Ultraviolet/Visible Detector, Scanning Fluorescence Detector, Photodiode Array Detector, Differential Refractometer Detector and mass spectrometer

Targets and Key Indicators

Key Performance Measures Relating to the Statutory Testing of Food Samples, Food Complaint Samples and Pesticide Formulation Samples

Targets

Testing of Food Samples	Targets	2006 (Actual)	2007 (Actual)	2008 (Plan)
Food samples for regulatory compliance purposes within target reporting time averaging 19 working days (%) *	95	98	97	95

*	Different samples require different analytical procedures, thus different target reporting time applies. The quoted number of working days required represents an average of target reporting time for the different samples within the category.

Key Indicators

Key Indicators for Statutory Testing of Samples#

Tests Performed on Samples	2006 (Actual)	2007 (Actual)	2008 (Estimate)
Food samples for regulatory compliance purposes	112,421	158,735	130,000

#	It is the total number of tests conducted by the Food Safety A to E Sections.

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