Hong Kong must step up checks for prohibited food brought across border: lawmaker

Hong Kong authorities should step up border inspections following a surge in people bringing in prohibited food items from mainland China without proper health certificates, a lawmaker has said, warning the trend could trigger safety risks and affect local businesses.

Peter Shiu Ka-fai, who represents the retail and wholesale sector in the legislature, also called on the government to increase public education on the issue, after official data showed that the number of people bringing in regulated food into Hong Kong without health certificates had shot up 55 per cent compared with last year.

“I believe most people who violated the laws were unaware their actions were illegal,” he told a radio show on Thursday.

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan told the Legislative Council on Wednesday that up to April this year, 431 non-compliance cases were referred by the Customs and Excise Department regarding people bringing in regulated foods without certificates.

Authorities had prosecuted 503 cases throughout the same period, an increase of 51.5 per cent from last year, the minister added.

Describing the uptick as “quite significant”, Shiu said while he understood the importance of smooth border flows, immigration officers needed to strike a balance with more frequent and careful bag checks to prevent further increases in violations.