Press Releases

Final phase of controls on feeding veterinary chemicals to food animals to take effect
Tuesday, December 30, 2003

The final phase of the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Chemical Residues) Regulation will be implemented tomorrow (December 31), further regulating the feeding of veterinary chemicals to food animals.

"Controls on chemical residues in live food animals have been implemented in phases since 2001 to ensure public safety," a spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said. "The final-phase controls cover the remaining 18 chemicals for which maximum residue limits (MRLs) for meat, offal and milk are prescribed."

The 18 chemicals are bacitracin, ceftiofur, colistin, danofloxacin, enrofloxacin, erythromycin, flumequine, gentamicin, ivermectin, kitasamycin, lincomycin, neomycin, oxolinic acid, sarafloxacin, spectinomycin, tiamulin, tylosin and virginiamycin.

The Government implemented the first and second phases of the regulation on December 31, 2001 and January 31, 2003 respectively to cover seven prohibited chemicals and 19 of the 37 chemicals for which MRLs are prescribed.

The chemicals which came under the first-phase controls either have a more severe impact on human health or are more commonly used in raising food animals. The regulation banned the use of avoparcin, clenbuterol, chloramphenicol, dienoestrol, diethylstilboestrol, hexoestrol and salbutamol, and set down the MRLs for cloxacillin, dicloxacillin, ampicillin, amoxycillin, benzylpenicillin, sulfonamides, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, doxycycline and tetracycline on December 31, 2001.

The second phase extended MRL controls to nine more chemicals - carbadox, dihydrostreptomycin, dimetridazole, furaltadone, furazolidone, josamycin, metronidazole, streptomycin and trimethoprim.

The spokesman said it would be an offence for farmers or traders to keep food animals which had consumed any of the seven prohibited chemicals, or to supply food animals or milk in which the prescribed MRLs of the 37 other chemicals were exceeded.

It would also be an offence for food animal farmers or traders to possess prohibited chemicals or fodder containing any prohibited chemical. Any person who brings into a slaughterhouse any food animals without proper labels or markings also commits an offence. The maximum fine for these offences is $100,000.

"We will continue to work with farmers and traders to ensure that the food animals supplied in Hong Kong do not contain prohibited or excessive chemical residues," the spokesman said.

In conjunction with the final phase implementation of the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Chemical Residues) Regulation, controls under the Harmful Substances in Food Regulations will concurrently be extended to the remaining 18 chemicals, with the same prescribed maximum concentration levels in meat, offal and milk.