Government Laboratory

Analytical and Advisory Services Division

Food Safety C Section

About the Section

The Section provides analytical and advisory support to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for the protection of public health and for support of their statutory functions under the Harmful Substances in Food Regulations and the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Chemical Residues) Regulation of Cap. 132 and Cap. 139 respectively.

Responsibilities

This Section conducts analyses for enforcement of the following regulations under the Ordinances:

Harmful Substances in Food Regulations under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132)
Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Chemical Residues) Regulation under the Public Health (Animals and Birds) Ordinance (Cap.139)

In addition, the Section undertakes the examination of veterinary drug residues in food and food animals that are of health and public concern. It is planned that 37,500 tests will be conducted in 2007/08. The samples are examined for agricultural and veterinary drug residues including beta-agonists, antibiotics and synthetic hormones and other chemicals as listed in the concerned regulations.

For the HOKLAS accredited tests undertaken by this section, please click here for details.

Key Personnel

Senior Chemist: Dr. W. O. Lee (Tel. No.:2538-2012 E-mail: wolee@govtlab.gov.hk)

Chemist (E-mail address)	Tel. No.
Dr H S Chu, Chemist (hschu@govtlab.gov.hk)	2538-2017
Mr. P O Tang, Chemist (potang@govtlab.gov.hk)	2538-2018
Ms. S C Tso, Chemist (sctso@govtlab.gov.hk)	2538-2013
Dr. Y T Wong, Chemist (ytwong@govtlab.gov.hk)	2538-2014

Quality Assurance

About 20% of the tests conducted in the Section are for QC purpose.

This Section also participates on a regular basis Food Analysis Performance Assessment Scheme (FAPAS) organized by Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs of UK.

Key Instruments

The following instruments are used routinely by the Section:

Gas Chromatographs with Mass Selective Detector
High Performance Liquid Chromatographs with Tandem Mass Spectrometer (LC/MS/MS)
High Performance Liquid Chromatographs with Photodiode Array Detector and Scanning Fluorescence Detector
Automatic Solid Phase Extraction system
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) System
Radio-immunoassay (RIA) System

Targets and Key Indicators

Key Performance Measures Relating to the Statutory Testing of Food Samples

Targets

Testing of Food Samples*	Targets	2006 (Actual)	2007 (Actual)	2008 (Plan)
Samples relating to food poisoning within one working day (%)	100	100	100	100
Food samples for regulatory compliance purposes within target reporting time averaging 19 working days (%)	95	98	97	95
Food complaint samples within target reporting time averaging 25 working days (%)	80	75	80	82

*	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 Food Samples ^#

Tests Performed on Food Samples	2006 (Actual)	2007 (Actual)	2008 (Estimate)
Food samples for regulatory compliance purposes	112,421	158,735	130,000
Food complaint samples	14,604	26,469	20,000

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

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