Hong Kong and the mainland have agreed to enhance measures ensuring the safety of egg and fish supplies to the SAR.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Carrie Yau and Food Safety Centre Controller Dr Mak Sin-ping yesterday met State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection & Quarantine Department of Animal & Plant Quarantine Director General Yu Taiwei and Import & Export Food Security Bureau Director Li Yuanping in Beijing.

The mainland authorities decided all registered egg farms and companies will be inspected, with those conforming to requirements included in a list to be announced by the end of December on the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection & Quarantine's website.

Among other measures:

Mainland eggs and egg products to be exported to Hong Kong will be inspected to ensure they are free of Sudan dyes;

From January 1, Mainland eggs and egg products exported to Hong Kong must carry labels showing details of their farms and companies, production dates and batches for quicker tracking;

Mainland eggs and egg products supplied to Hong Kong will have to bear health certificates from January 1; and,

Penalties for mainland farms and companies selling tainted eggs and egg products will be raised.

Yau welcomed the decision. "That eggs supply to Hong Kong should be accompanied with health certificates is a constructive arrangement," she said.

Hong Kong consumes about 4 million eggs daily and imports about 1.7 billion eggs yearly. Yet, some eggs enter into Hong Kong market via other channels.

Food Safety Centre Consultant Dr Ho Yuk-yin said the latest test results on fish and eggs found no harmful substances.

Freshwater fish

Both sides also agreed to explore the mechanism to handle freshwater fish entering Hong Kong through improper channels. The local trade should procure products from manufacturers and exporters complying with mainland requirements.

Meanwhile, local fish vendors were hit after Guangdong freshwater fish farmers decided to stop supplies to Hong Kong from yesterday.

A fish vendor in the Causeway Bay Market, Mr Lee, pointed out that it was impossible for most vendors to switch from traders of mainland fresh water fish to local ones.

"We haven't been trading with them and they will not give us their limited supplies," said Lee. "I'll have nothing to sell after my remaining stocks are sold out," he added.

While their prices have remained stable, sales of remaining freshwater fish from the mainland have been weak on the market. A number of fish vendors in Tin Hau reported a 70 per cent drop in its sale.

"I give discounts but few people want to buy it, even though they know my stocks came from Zhongshan," said Kwok Chi-heng, the owner of a fish stall in Tin Hau.

The business prospects for local fish vendors are now at stake, as many may have to close down their businesses if the supply of mainland freshwater fish is not resumed soon.

"Our industry has been fighting losses for a year now and we can't wait for other alternatives," said Ms Hui, a fish vendor in Tin Hau.

Yesterday, the SAR government officials said that the investigation would be conducted to find out whether the freshwater fish with carcinogenic chemicals was the result of environmental contamination

The suggestion of environmental contamination came as Guangdong exporters stopped supplying fish to Hong Kong to show their frustration over the incident and a mainland official said the contaminated fishes could be smuggled to Hong Kong.

No new fish samples were found to be contaminated by Hong Kong yesterday.

Guangdong Provincial Oceanic and Fisheries Administration quality and safety inspection head Yang Wenkui said all of the fishes exported to Hong Kong through Shunde had undergone safety checks and were not contaminated.

Guangdong Fresh and Frozen Imports and Exports Products Association spokesman Zheng Shining said the supply would not be resumed before the SAR government cleared up the matter with mainland authorities. He said business operation of Guangdong suppliers were difficult.

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food York Chow said it was necessary to find out whether the fishes were contaminated during delivery and whether the ponds' water was contaminated with the substance.

CFS Consultant Ho said the two fish contaminated samples from registered mainland farms only contained low level of chemical, and said that environmental contamination could be the cause.

"Malachite green residue could be kept in the environment for a long time. It takes a large quantity of malachite green if the farmers are deliberately using it to cure skin disease of the fishes. But the quantity of such substance in the tested samples is very low. So we believe that the contamination can be caused by environmental factor," he said.

Ho said the government had given the data to Guangdong authority for further investigation. Ho, however, said that the government standard was in line with international standard and farmers were responsible to reduce the chemical residue.