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The FEHD is the authority
responsible for licensing food businesses
and issuing permits for the sale of restricted
foods including Chinese herb tea, milk,
frozen confections, sushi and sashimi.
It also issues licences to places of public
entertainment such as theatres, cinemas
and entertainment machine centres. In
addition, it issues trade licences for
private swimming pools, commercial bathhouses
and offensive trades such as tanning hides
and the processing of sharks' fins. The
FEHD also provides support to the Liquor
Licensing Board, which is an independent
statutory body constituted for the purpose
of issuing liquor licences and club liquor
licences. The Chief Executive appoints
board members who meet about four times
a month to consider applications.
During the year, the
department received and processed 2 734
applications for food business licences,
901 for restricted food permits, 791 for
places of public entertainment licences,
53 for other trade licences, 774 for liquor
and club liquor licences and 36 for permits
for karaoke establishments in premises
with a restaurant licence. In line with
the Government's policy of facilitating
business operations in Hong Kong, the
department also started to implement measures
to streamline licensing by simplifying
the procedures to reduce the processing
time for various food business licences
and liquor licences and relaxing certain
licensing requirements which do not pose
food hygiene problems. The department
plans to continue to take other measures
to further streamline the procedures for
food business licensing.
The FEHD, in consultation
with the Legislative Council and the trade,
also develops and puts forward new initiatives
to further improve hygiene in food premises,
thereby enhancing food safety. One such
initiative, the Hygiene Manager and Hygiene
Supervisor Scheme, was launched in May
2005. Under the scheme, all food establishments
are required to appoint a hygiene manager
and/or a hygiene supervisor depending
on the size and scope of the operation.
Their main duties are to supervise food
safety and hygiene at the premises and
serve as a point of contact with the FEHD.
The FEHD executed five
closure orders against food premises during
the year because of cases of food poisoning
or food-borne diseases. |