Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) said in a September 29 statement that it had inspected food premises serving tour groups in various districts, using information supplied by the Travel Industry Authority, in a bid to strengthen food safety and hygiene awareness among caterers ahead of the National Day long holiday. A department spokesman said the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) and the FEHD's Environmental Hygiene Branch had jointly carried out the inspections since September 21.

The inspections were intended to ensure operators observe licensing conditions on food handling and processing and meet hygiene standards set in law. Staff also gave food safety and hygiene education to operators and their employees and collected food samples for testing.

The CFS earlier held an online health talk for tour-group catering providers, offering advice on safe food preparation and reminding them to maintain personal, food and environmental hygiene. Caterers were encouraged to follow Good Hygiene Practices and build a food safety plan based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system. The FEHD said it would keep monitoring the situation and liaising closely with stakeholders to safeguard public health and food safety.