The Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) called for the end of a parallel importation policy on food to ensure food safety in Hong Kong.

The harmful food products discovered on the mainland are not for export and hence should not enter Hong Kong at all, said DAB chairman Ma Lik at a press conference yesterday.

However, parallel importation allows products with or without a Hong Kong registered dealer imported into Hong Kong.

The policy was originally made for the import of audio and video (AV) products to benefit local consumers because AV products without dealership are cheaper in the market.

"But it seemed now that food products from the mainland can enter Hong Kong as well because of the parallel policy," Ma said, adding that the party was very concerned about the problem.

The mainland has some 900,000 food-processing factories. But only 11,000 of them are licensed to make export-oriented food, which have to meet the requirement of international food safety standard, Ma said.

Products by factories having no export licences are also coming into the territory, according to DAB.

And such products are often popular because they are cheaper than those sold by licensed dealers, Ma said.

The party advised consumers to buy only food products that list manufacturers, expiry dates and food content on the packages.

And always be careful when seeing "blurry prints", Ma said.

Ma will head for Guangzhou tomorrow to meet officials of the mainland food authority to discuss the food safety issues. He will also tour some factories licensed to export food to Hong Kong.

"We would urge the mainland authority to issue warnings to food producers that illegally sell products in Hong Kong," Ma said, "and we would ask them to publish the blacklisted factories for the sake of the public's interest."

(HK Edition 06/30/2004 page2)