January 24, 2008

Hong Kong imports 83 percent of its pork from China

Hong Kong imported about 1,000 tonnes of chilled pork each month last year, with 83 percent coming from China, secretary for Food & Health, York Chow said.

Chow said Hong Kong has recently reached an agreement with the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection & Quarantine that the supply of chilled pork to Hong Kong and the number of processing plants can be increased according to market needs.

Aside from China, Hong Kong gets the remainder of its pork supply from Thailand at 15 percent, while two percent come from other countries including Australia, France, Canada, the US, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands.

Hong Kong has set stringent inspection and quarantine standards for chilled pork imports.

China's slaughtering and processing plants have been required to hold a certificate of hygiene registration from China's National Regulatory Commission for Certification and Accreditation.

Since August 2006, four processing plants from Guangdong and Shenzhen have obtained approval to supply chilled pork to Hong Kong. Officers of the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department have inspected these plants seven times and all assessments proved satisfactory.