Three charities have been issued Public Subscription Permits to hold flag sales from 7am to 12.30pm today (July 28). They are, on Hong Kong Island, Society for Abandoned Animals Limited; in Kowloon, Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children; and in the New Territories, Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service – Hong Kong, a spokesman for the Social Welfare Department (SWD) said.

     Arrangements have been made with the charities to help people distinguish between the three flag-selling activities.

     Information on the three flag-selling organisations on July 28 is as follows:
 

     For enquiries, please call the SWD's hotline at 2343 2255, or the Charitable Fund-raising Control Team at 2832 4311 during office hours. Information on the flag days of the month is available at the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_whatsnew). Permits for flag days containing contact information of the flag-selling organisations and information on the approved flag-selling activities have also been uploaded to the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_pubsvc/page_controlofc/sub_recentlyap). For enquiries about the detailed flag-selling arrangements, please contact the individual flag-selling organisations.

     Details of the charitable fund-raising activities covered by the Public Subscription Permit issued by the SWD have also been uploaded to the GovHK website (www.gov.hk/fundraising).
 
     In the case of suspected fraudulent flag day activities, people should not make any donation and should immediately report the matter to the Police, the spokesman added.

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, watched a Cantonese opera performance by children and teenagers from Hong Kong, met separately with the Minister of Science and Technology and the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), as well as visited the university students participating in the Beijing Palace Museum Conservation Internship Programme yesterday (July 27) in Beijing.

     Accompanied by the Director of the Chief Executive's Office, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, Mrs Lam visited the Guardian Art Center in the morning. The Centre is a new one-stop cultural landmark integrating art exhibition, auction, art warehouse, art education, authentication and restoration, and hotel. Mrs Lam briefed the management of the Centre on the cultural development in Hong Kong in recent years and the West Kowloon Cultural District project.

     Mrs Lam, along with the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang and Mr Chan, then met the CAS President, Professor Bai Chunli, and attended a lunch hosted by him. At the meeting, Mrs Lam expressed her gratitude to Professor Bai for the valuable advice he tendered on Hong Kong's development on innovation and technology (I&T) during his visit to Hong Kong last year and to CAS for arranging an internship programme in Beijing for Hong Kong university students. She said the programme is very beneficial to them and hopes the same will be organised next year. Noting that the achievements made by Hong Kong on I&T development in the past year is inseparable from the support of the Central Government, she expressed the hope that the CAS will continue to support Hong Kong, including participating in the research clusters on healthcare technologies and on artificial intelligence and robotics technologies to be set up in Hong Kong, as well as bringing together academicians from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to advance the development of I&T in Hong Kong. As an organisation directly under the State Council, the CAS is the nation's highest academic institution on natural science, integrating the functions of a scientific research institute, an academic society and an education organisation.  

     In the afternoon, Mrs Lam and the other officials, accompanied by the Director of the Palace Museum, Dr Shan Jixiang, met the students participating in the Beijing Palace Museum Conservation Internship Programme. She thanked the Palace Museum and related units for continuing to conduct the internship programme and including students from Macao this year. Young people from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao are able to exchange and learn from one another, and deepen the knowledge on the culture and history of the Palace Museum and China, broadening their horizon. Mrs Lam also visited the Palace Museum Furniture Gallery which features priceless furniture collected by the Palace Museum including chairs used by the emperors. The exhibits may be displayed at the Hong Kong Palace Museum at the West Kowloon Cultural District in the future.

     At the meeting with the Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Wang Zhigang, that followed, Mrs Lam said she was very pleased to visit the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) again since her last visit in August last year and thanked for the staunch support of MOST for I&T development in Hong Kong. Noting that she is advancing the city's I&T development in accordance with the eight-pronged approach set out in her Policy Address delivered last year and some achievements have been made in various aspects, she said that the new policy instructed personally by the President allowing universities and research institutions in Hong Kong to apply for central fiscal science and technology projects and the use of funding in Hong Kong is most encouraging to the science and technology sector in Hong Kong. She added that the support of the MOST is very important to I&T development in Hong Kong and she welcomed the visit by Mr Wang to Hong Kong any time to discuss further on strengthening of collaboration. 

     Accompanied by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, and Mr Chan, Mrs Lam watched a performance by the Sing Fai Cantonese Opera Promotion Association from Hong Kong in the evening, which is part of a Chinese opera show that brings together different local opera performances from across the nation. After the performance, Mrs Lam, together with the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mr Luo Shugang, Director of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, Mr Zhang Xiaoming and Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr Wang Zhimin, visited the backstage to meet with the 30 children and teenage performers, two of them performed in front of President Xi in the West Kowloon Cultural District when he paid an inspection visit to Hong Kong last year. Mrs Lam conveyed to them President Xi's warm regards, and congratulated them for their successful performances in Beijing. The Association also presented a souvenir to Mr Luo to express their gratitude to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for its arrangement which provides the Association with a precious opportunity to perform in Beijing.

     Mrs Lam will depart from Beijing this morning (July 28) and return to Hong Kong in the afternoon.

                          

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at regular intervals:

     Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (July 27) that Sheung Shui Swimming Pool in North District has been temporarily closed for cleaning and superchlorination following the discovery of a small amount of faeces in the pool.

     It will be reopened at 6.30am tomorrow.

     The department appeals to swimmers to be considerate and to keep the swimming pools clean. They are advised not to swim after a full meal and should use the toilet facilities if necessary before swimming.

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (July 27) announced that a kind of prepackaged walnut drink produced in Italy was suspected to contain an allergen, milk, but it was not declared on the product's food label. The CFS advised consumers who are allergic to milk to refrain from consuming the affected batch of the product. The trade should also stop using or selling the product concerned immediately.

     Product details are as follows:

Product name: OraSi Walnut
Place of origin: Italy
Manufacturer: UNIGRA S.R.L
Importer: UNIGRA S.R.L (Hong Kong)
Distributor: Well Synergy International Limited
Packing: 1 litre per pack
Best-before-date: February 14, 2019

     "The CFS received a notification from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the European Commission that the above-mentioned product is under recall because it may contain an allergen, milk, which is not declared on the food label. According to information provided by the RASFF, the above-mentioned importer imported some of the affected product into Hong Kong," the spokesman said.
     
     The CFS immediately contacted the importer concerned which confirmed that it had imported a total of 420 packs of the affected product. Among them, 300 packs were distributed to Well Synergy International Limited and some of them had been sold. The importer and the distributor have stopped sale and initiated a recall of the affected product according to CFS's instruction. Members of the public may call the distributor's hotline at 3698 1653 during office hours for enquiries about the recall.

     The spokesman advised consumers who are allergic to milk to stop consuming the product concerned. They should seek medical treatment if they feel unwell after consuming it.

      "People who are allergic to milk may have immunologic response like vomiting, diarrhoea and rash upon consumption of food containing this allergen. In severe cases, anaphylactic shock may even develop. As for other members of the public, generally speaking, they would not be subject to such reactions when the food in question is consumed," he said.

     The Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) Regulations (Cap 132W) require that all prepackaged food for sale in Hong Kong should list out the food ingredients in its list of ingredients. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $50,000 and six months' imprisonment.

     The CFS will alert the trade, continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action. Investigation is on-going.

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (July 27) announced that three Chinese wolfberry leaf samples were found to contain a pesticide residue at levels exceeding the legal limit. The CFS is following up on the cases.

      A CFS spokesman said, "The CFS collected the Chinese wolfberry leaf samples from two supermarkets in Tsuen Wan and Kwai Fong, as well as a vegetable shop in Wan Chai respectively for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme. The test results showed that the samples contained acetamiprid at respective levels of 6.5 parts per million (ppm), 7.4 ppm and 6.1 ppm, exceeding the maximum residue limit (MRL) of 3 ppm.

      "Based on the levels of pesticide residue detected in the samples, adverse health effects will not be caused under usual consumption," he added.

      Generally speaking, to reduce pesticide residues in vegetables, members of the public can rinse vegetables thoroughly under clean running water, and scrub produce with hard surfaces with a clean brush to remove dirt and substances including pesticides and contaminants from the surface and the crevices, when appropriate.

      Any person who imports, manufactures or sells any food not in compliance with the requirements of the Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation (Cap 132CM) concerning pesticide residues commits an offence and is liable to a maximum fine of $50,000 and to imprisonment for six months upon conviction.

      Since the regulation came into effect on August 1, 2014, the CFS has taken over 150 000 samples at import, wholesale and retail levels for testing for pesticide residues. Together with the unsatisfactory samples announced today, a total of 230 food samples (including 222 vegetable and fruit samples) have been detected as having excessive 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 MRLs of pesticide residues in food set in the Regulation are not safety indicators. They are the maximum concentrations of pesticide residues to be 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 may not necessarily lead to any adverse health effects.

      The CFS is following up on the unsatisfactory results, including tracing the sources of the food in question and taking samples for testing. Investigation is ongoing.