Secretary Mak Discusses Youth Development and Governance Cooperation with Sichuan Officials

SHYA meets with Director of Sichuan Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office

​​The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak, today (October 15) met with the Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Sichuan Provincial People's Government, Ms Zhang Tao, to exchange views on enhancing youth development and exchanges and on district governance work between Sichuan and Hong Kong. The Commissioner for Youth, Mr Eric Chan, also joined the meeting.

​Miss Mak welcomed the delegation led by Ms Zhang. Miss Mak said that Hong Kong and Sichuan have had a close relationship and much to learn from one another. To enhance Hong Kong youth's understanding of the country, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (HYAB) has been actively taking forward various exchange and internship programmes. Some of them cover Sichuan (e.g. the Youth Internship Programme at Wolong Region of Giant Panda National Park under the Thematic Youth Internship Programmes to the Mainland) and receive staunch support from the Sichuan authorities, providing diversified exchange and internship opportunities for Hong Kong youth. With regard to district governance, the HKSAR Government has been striving to provide quality service and build a better community through the District Councils (DCs) and District Services and Community Care Teams, which is consistent with Sichuan's objective. Miss Mak said that HYAB had arranged a series of training and study programmes for DC members, including arranging DC members to go by batches to Zhejiang Province and Shanghai to learn about the country's principles on grassroot governance and undertake site visits to learn their experiences in undertaking grassroot governance work, so as to continuously enhance DC members' capabilities in discharging their duties; and that the work in this regard would continue in future.

​Miss Mak looks forward to deepening the cooperation on youth development and exploring mutual exchange on district governance work with Sichuan, and to contribute to the country's development needs.

SHYA meets with Director of Sichuan Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

SHYA meets with Director of Sichuan Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Imported Clotted cream samples detected with total bacterial count exceeding legal limit

​The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (October 16) that samples of prepackaged pasteurized Cornish clotted cream imported from the United Kingdom (UK) were detected with total bacterial count exceeding the legal limit. The affected batch of product has been marked and sealed, and has not entered the market. The CFS is following up on the incident.

Product details are as follows:

Product name: Cornish Clotted Cream

Brand: M&S

Place of origin: UK

Sole importer: Alf Retail Hong Kong Limited

Packing: 227 grams per pack

Use-by date:October 18, 2024

A spokesman for the CFS said, "The CFS collected the above-mentioned samples at the import level for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme. The test results showed that the total bacterial count of the samples were 620 400, 1 128 000 and 1 504 000 per milliliter respectively. According to the Milk Regulation (Cap 132 AQ), milk after heat treatment by means of pasteurisation should not contain more than 30 000 bacteria per millilitre.

The CFS has informed the importer concerned of the irregularity. An investigation revealed that the affected batch of the product is still stored in the importer's warehouse. It has not entered the local market. The CFS has temporarily suspended the permission to import for sale of the product concerned granted earlier to the importer. Other types of similar products of the same brand being sold in the market are not affected.

　

The spokesman said that the total bacterial counts exceeding the legal limit indicated that the hygienic conditions were unsatisfactory, but did not mean it would lead to food poisoning.

　

The CFS has informed the British authorities of the incident, and will continue to follow up on the case and take appropriate action.