Lab food-test accreditation stepped up

A government laboratory chemist has been seconded to the Innovation & Technology Commission to help speed up the process of giving accreditation for food testing to private laboratories, Secretary for Food & Health York Chow said yesterday.

Chow told lawmakers the government laboratory will monitor market developments and organize technical seminars, laboratory proficiency tests and inter-laboratory comparison studies as necessary.

Smuggling syndicate shut down on Lantau Island

Customs have shut down a northern Lantau Island-based smuggling syndicate, arresting seven men and seizing smuggled goods worth HK$22 million.

At about 1 am yesterday, officers swooped on a public carpark near a cargo terminal of the International Airport and the nearby waterfront.

They seized goods including high-value electronic goods, computer hard disks, integrated circuit chips, mobile phones and accessories.

Excessive melamine found in sponge cake

The Centre for Food Safety has found a sponge cake sample from a Maxim's restaurant in Siu Sai Wan to contain 3.2 ppm melamine exceeding the legal limit of 2.5 ppm and asked it to stop selling the product.

The center said yesterday the product in question was made by the eatery concerned. Raw materials for making the product have been taken for tests. Prosecutions will be taken out should there be sufficient evidence.

Celebrity nude pic uploader pleads guilty to fraud

Chung Yik-tin, who had escaped punishment after the Department of Justice withdrew a case against him for uploading indecent photos of local celebrities onto the Internet earlier this year, pleaded guilty yesterday to 18 counts of fraud.

A District Court judge ordered the 29-year-old defendant be remanded in police custody pending his family background report for the sentencing on Nov 4.

China Daily

(HK Edition 10/23/2008 page1)