Hong Kong Customs today (November 16) seized 92 suspected smuggled smartphones with an estimated market value of about $650,000 at Shenzhen Bay Control Point.

     Customs officers today intercepted an outgoing private vehicle at Shenzhen Bay Control Point and found the batch of smartphones under the carpets of the driver and front passenger seats, as well as inside two suspected false compartments onboard the vehicle.

     The 46-year-old male driver was arrested. Investigation is ongoing.

     Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

    

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (November 16) announced that a red crab sample, a blue crab sample and three prepackaged frozen brown crab samples were detected with cadmium, a metallic contaminant, exceeding the legal limit.
 
     Details of the brown crab samples are as follows:

Product name: Cooked Brown Crab
Product brand: Shell Fish Ireland
Place of origin: Ireland
Weight: 400 – 600 grams and 600 – 800 grams
Batch: 181830603 and 181830610
Best-before date: July 2020

     "The CFS collected the abovementioned brown crab samples respectively from three online shops, and the red crab and blue crab samples from a fresh provision shop in Tin Shui Wai and a stall in Smithfield Market, Sai Wan respectively for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme. The test results showed that the brown crab samples contained cadmium at respective levels of 6.42 parts per million (ppm), 7.77ppm and 18.1ppm, while levels of cadmium of the red crab and blue crab samples are 2.87ppm and 3.37ppm respectively, exceeding the legal limit of 2ppm," the spokesman said.

     "The CFS has informed the vendors concerned of the irregularities and the vendors have stopped selling and removed from shelves the affected batches of the products according to CFS' instructions. The Centre is tracing the sources of the products in question," the spokesman added.

     According to the Food Adulteration (Metallic Contamination) Regulations (Cap 132V), no one shall sell food with metallic contamination above the legal limits. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $50,000 and six months' imprisonment.

     The spokesman said that edible portion of crabs' cephalothorax (mainly consists of internal organs like crab roes and hepatopancreas) are generally tainted with higher levels of cadmium and other contaminants. People who consume more crabs should avoid consuming crabs' cephalothorax. The trade is also advised to ensure that all foods sold in Hong Kong comply with the legal requirements.

     The CFS will alert the trade, continue to follow up on the incidents and take appropriate action. Investigation is ongoing.

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (November 16) urged the public not to consume a kind of sausage imported from Italy due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, a pathogen. The trade should stop using or selling the product concerned immediately if they possess it.
      
     Details of the product are as follows:
      
Product name: Mortadella Bologna IGP con pistacchio
Brand: Casa Modena
Place of origin: Italy
Importer: Angliss Hong Kong Food Service Ltd
Use-by date: November 28, 2018
      
     "The CFS received a notification from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the European Commission that the above-mentioned product might have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and is being recalled. According to the information provided by the RASFF, a local importer, Angliss Hong Kong Food Service Ltd, had imported a small quantity of the affected product into Hong Kong," a spokesman for the CFS said.
      
     The CFS immediately contacted the importer concerned for follow-up.  Preliminary investigation showed that the importer had imported 10.96 kilograms of the affected product and all of them were sold. The importer has initiated a recall according to the CFS' advice. Enquiries about the recall can be made to the importer's hotline at 2494 2128 during office hours.
      
     "Listeria monocytogenes can be easily destroyed by cooking but can survive and multiply at refrigerator temperature. Most healthy individuals do not develop symptoms or only have mild symptoms like fever, muscle pain, headache, nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea when infected. However, severe complications such as septicemia, meningitis or even death may occur in newborns, the elderly and those with a weaker immune system. Although infected pregnant women may just experience mild symptoms generally, the infection of Listeria monocytogenes may cause miscarriage, infant death, preterm birth, or severe infection in newborns," the spokesman said.
      
     The CFS will alert the trade to the incident, and will continue to closely monitor the case and take appropriate follow-up action. Investigation is ongoing.

     Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, at Belgium's King's Day Reception this evening (November 16):

Consul-General (Consul-General of Belgium to Hong Kong, Ms Michèle Deneffe), ladies and gentlemen,

     Good evening. It is my honour to join you all here to celebrate the Kingdom of Belgium's King's Day and His Majesty King Philippe, now into the sixth year of his reign.

     We are also here to celebrate the strong and longstanding ties between Hong Kong and Belgium. That is evident and reinforced by the recent visits of our Chief Executive and the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development to Brussels, the Belgian capital and seat of the European Union.

     Hong Kong and Belgium are close business and trading partners. Hong Kong is home to nearly 70 Belgian companies, from banking and asset management to manufacturing and logistics.

     As the Consul-General noted, we are pleased to learn that Belgian environmental technology company Keppel Seghers has won an over $31 billion contract in co-operation with a Hong Kong firm to design, build and operate our first integrated waste management facility.

     I invite more Belgian companies consider to join us in Hong Kong for many good reasons. In the coming years, our Motherland's Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will create enormous opportunities for Hong Kong as well as the international companies that partner with Hong Kong. This is certainly true in financial and other professional services, in which Hong Kong is a recognised global leader. Innovation and technology will also offer unprecedented prospects, particularly in the Greater Bay Area.

     Indeed, this year's Global Innovation Index 2018 that was published by the World Intellectual Property Organization has ranked Shenzhen-Hong Kong second among science and technology clusters worldwide, behind only Tokyo-Yokohama. Hong Kong and Shenzhen are now building the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park at the Lok Ma Chau Loop near the border between the two places to add further impetus to this regional innovation and technology development and co-operation within the Greater Bay Area.

     The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is committed to promoting Hong Kong as a regional information and technology hub, investing heavily in research and development (R&D) and promoting re-industrialisation. The opportunities are here for Belgium's information and technology companies, as Keppel Seghers has demonstrated. To encourage the private sector to invest in R&D, the Government has introduced a super tax deduction which provides companies that are based in Hong Kong a tax deduction of up to 300 per cent for qualifying R&D expenditure.

     Hong Kong's tax system, of course, is invitingly low and simple, part of what makes Hong Kong one of the world's most desirable business addresses. Indeed, just last month, the World Bank's "Doing Business 2019 Report" ranked Hong Kong fourth globally in the ease of doing business.

     Business aside, Hong Kong and Belgium are establishing closer co-operation in arts and culture. Belgian films have been screened here in Hong Kong on a number of occasions this year, and the Hong Kong Arts Centre participated in the Theatre of Liège's International Meeting in Performing Arts and Creative Technologies last month.

     I understand that the Consul-General has a background steeped in arts and culture, and I look forward to her thoughts on expanding our creative co-operation in the months and years ahead.

     On this happy note, please join me now in a toast to His Majesty King Philippe and the people of Belgium.

     Hong Kong Customs today (November 16) arrested a female salesperson of a travel agent suspected of engaging in unfair trade practices involving bait and switch in the sale of travel services, in contravention of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO).

     Customs earlier received information alleging that a travel agent had in the course of sale of travel services invited a customer to purchase an air ticket voucher at a discounted price. When the customer redeemed the voucher, the travel agent refused to provide an air ticket. The customer was allowed to use the voucher only when a more expensive air ticket and hotel package was purchased.
 
     After investigation, Customs officers today arrested a 37-year-old woman. The arrested woman has been released on bail pending further investigation.

     Customs reminds traders to comply with the requirements of the TDO and consumers to procure services at reputable shops.

     Under the TDO, any trader who offers a service for purchase at a specified price but subsequently, with the intention of promoting a different service, refuses to deliver the service within a reasonable time commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
 
     Members of the public may report any suspected violations of the TDO to the Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).