Police today (January 31) laid a holding charge against a 56-year-old man with one count of murder.

     The man was arrested yesterday (January 30) in suspected connection with a murder case happened in Aberdeen in which his 54-year-old wife died.

     The case will be mentioned at Eastern Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (February 1).

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (January 31) released the findings of its food safety report for last month (December 2019). The results of about 14 200 food samples tested were found to be satisfactory except for 11 unsatisfactory samples which were announced earlier. The overall satisfactory rate was 99.9 per cent.
      
     A CFS spokesman said about 1 200 food samples were collected for microbiological tests, some 3 700 samples were taken for chemical tests and the remaining 9 300 (including about 8 400 taken from food imported from Japan) were collected to test radiation levels.
      
     The microbiological tests covered pathogens and hygienic indicators, while the chemical tests included pesticides, preservatives, metallic contaminants, colouring matters, veterinary drug residues and others.
      
     The samples comprised about 3 100 samples of vegetables and fruit and their products; 700 samples of cereals, grains and their products; 800 samples of meat and poultry and their products; 700 samples of milk, milk products and frozen confections; 1 900 samples of aquatic and related products; and 7 000 samples of other food commodities (including beverages, bakery products and snacks).
      
     The 11 unsatisfactory samples comprised two Chinese cabbage samples and two celery samples detected with cadmium exceeding the legal limits; two swordfish samples and a tuna sample found to contain excessive methylmercury; a Chinese wolfberry leaf sample detected with lead exceeding the legal limit; a vegetable sample detected with pesticide residue exceeding the legal limit; a bamboo fungi sample found to contain excessive preservative and a tinned lettuce sample found to contain sulphite not declared on its food label.
      
     The CFS has taken follow-up actions on the unsatisfactory samples including informing the vendors concerned of the test results, instructing them to stop selling the affected food items and tracing the sources of the food items in question.
      
     Since the Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation (Cap 132CM) came into effect on August 1, 2014, as of December 31 last year, the CFS had taken over 193 800 food samples at import, wholesale and retail levels for testing for pesticide residues. The overall unsatisfactory rate is less than 0.2 per cent.
      
     The spokesman added that excessive pesticide residues in food may arise from the trade not observing Good Agricultural Practice, e.g. using excessive pesticides and/or not allowing sufficient time for pesticides to decompose before harvesting. The maximum residue limits (MRLs) of pesticide residues in food set in the Regulation are not safety indicators. They are the maximum concentrations of pesticide residues permitted in a food commodity under Good Agricultural Practice when applying pesticides. In this connection, consumption of food with pesticide residues higher than the MRLs will not necessarily lead to any adverse health effects.
      
     The spokesman reminded the food trade to ensure that food is fit for human consumption and meets legal requirements. Consumers should patronise reliable shops when buying food and maintain a balanced diet to minimise food risks.
 
Summary of food surveillance programme for 2019
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     Concluding the food surveillance programme for 2019, the spokesman said that apart from routine food surveillance, the CFS conducted a number of targeted as well as seasonal and popular food surveillance projects.
 
     "In addition to about 97 000 samples of imported Japanese food taken for testing of radiation levels in response to the Fukushima nuclear power plant incident in Japan, about 66 000 samples were tested by the CFS last year. The overall satisfactory rate was 99.8 per cent, which was comparable to the results in recent years. This indicates that food safety has been maintained at a high standard in Hong Kong,” he said.
 
     "The exceedances or breaches for most of the unsatisfactory samples were not serious and would not pose adverse health effects to the general public. For individual food items with unsatisfactory test results, the CFS has taken prompt and effective risk management action to safeguard public health," he said.
 
     He added that in planning the food surveillance programme, the CFS would always take into consideration a number of factors such as the food consumption level and the risk of the food concerned in deciding on the number of samples to be tested and the frequency of sampling as well as the testing parameters. In addition, the CFS would also adjust its food surveillance programmes and strengthen relevant testing with regard to local and overseas food incidents as well as past surveillance data, in particular breaches of regulatory requirements that occurred more frequently, so as to safeguard food safety in Hong Kong.

     Provisions relating to the requirements on the installation and operation of a very high frequency radiotelephone (VHF radio) in the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) (Safety and Survey) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 and the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 will come into effect tomorrow (February 1). The amendment regulations strengthen the existing requirements on navigational and communications equipment and enhance the marine safety of local vessels. 

     A spokesman for the Marine Department (MD) said, "The amendment regulations, which require that local vessels concerned must be fitted with a VHF radio and that a certificated operator must be present on board to operate the VHF radio at all times, were approved by the Legislative Council in February 2017. The amendment regulations will be ready for commencement tomorrow after we have confirmed with the trade that there are sufficient certificated operators of VHF radios."

     The Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) today (January 31) announced the arrangements for disbursing partial funding in advance for projects funded by the Enterprise Support Scheme (ESS). The arrangements aim to ease the cash-flow requirements faced by small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups when they conduct the funded projects.

     Under the new arrangements, the ITC will disburse an advance payment of up to 50 per cent of the matching fund approved under the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) for the first six months or up to $500,000, whichever is lower, to the recipient company upon request and on the condition that the recipient company has contributed the same amount on a matching basis. The remaining payment will be disbursed in instalments upon the recipient company’s fulfilment of the obligations stated in the agreement.

     The new arrangements will be applicable to applications submitted to the ITC from tomorrow (February 1).

     The ESS aims to encourage more private sector investment in research and development (R&D) through funding support for enterprises to conduct in-house R&D work. Funding of up to $10 million will be provided on a dollar-for-dollar matching basis for each approved R&D project with a duration of about two years in general. There is no requirement for recoupment of the Government’s contribution and the recipient company will own the intellectual property generated from the project.
 
     Further information is available on the ITF website (itf.gov.hk). For enquiries, please contact the ESS Secretariat (Tel: 3422 3700; email: ess@itc.gov.hk).

     The Highways Department (HyD) announced today (January 31) that in response to requests from interested tenderers, the tender period for the contract for Central Kowloon Route – Buildings, Electrical and Mechanical Works (Contract No. HY/2019/13) has been extended to noon on February 28.
 
     The HyD invited tenders for the contract on October 18, 2019. The original tender period was scheduled to expire at noon on February 7.
 
     The extension of the tender period was gazetted today.
 
     The HyD has appointed Arup – Mott MacDonald Joint Venture as the consultant to design and supervise the construction works. For enquiries, please call the consultant at 2268 3560.