Hong Kong still prosecuting only very few food safety complaints

Last year’s prosecution rate was the lowest in three years at 2.87%, compared to 6.85% in 2014. However, this year’s rate is expected to be below that, at 2.6%, while the number of complaints handled by officials over a three-year period hit a record high last year, at 5,036—a 9.57% increase over 2014. 

Food officials have blamed the low prosecution rate this year to the unwillingness of complainants to testify in court and insufficient evidence. 

“After people complain, or post online photos [of bad food], some may feel they already vented their anger, and therefore do not want to spend more time pursuing the case,’’ said a department spokeswoman.

Lawmaker Helena Wong Pik-wan, a former food safety watchdog in the Legislative Council, believes that the Food and Environmental Hygiene department’s handling of food complaints will give members of the public the task of monitoring food vendors. 

“When department staff arrive on site to speak to the complainant and write a report of what happened, that should be enough for them to take as evidence to court​,’’ Wong told the South China Morning Post​. 

“If the case can only be prosecuted with a witness, then many people would of course feel irritated by the process and give up​.’’ 

Wong said she expected to review food safety regulations and the standards for vendors in the coming Legislative Council term. 

Earlier this year the Ombudsman criticised the food department for failing in its role as gatekeeper for food safety.

It said in a report in January that the department had “[failed] in its duty to ensure public safety​” after investigating two food safety reports handled by the department. 

The Ombudsman said the department should have “tried every means​” possible to prosecute even if success was uncertain, and that it should not have “given up prosecution so easily​”.