Recently, the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department released the latest smuggling data.
This time, the case involving smuggling is closer to everyone, and the content announced is related to food.
(Photo: Customs and Excise Department)
Hong Kong Customs said it had seized nearly 400 food smuggling cases as of March, more than in the same period last year.
In particular, there was a slight increase in food smuggling cases during the Easter holidays.
It is not surprising that it will rise, after all, there is more travel during the holidays, and there may be many cases of people bringing food by mistake, Hong Kong Customs said that it will step up patrols during the May Day Golden Week.
(Photo: Radio Television Hong Kong)
But don't take it lightly and think that smuggling can't happen to you, because most people have eaten these foods, but it is illegal to bring them to Hong Kong!
Be cautious when bringing goods back to Hong Kong
In recent years, everyone is well aware of the boom of Hong Kong people going north, and many of them will choose to bring some food back when they return to Hong Kong.
Raw meat and eggs are very common in Hong Kong and the mainland, right? But bringing them back to Hong Kong is not okay at all.
(Photo: Customs and Excise Department)
Many mainland friends are also shocked when they see the picture, these eggs and chicken look like the local products that we went home for the New Year and the elders in the family let them take away, how can they be suspected of smuggling?
Because Hong Kong law stipulates that it is illegal to bring game, poultry and eggs into the country without a certificate or approved by the FEHD. And it can be punished with a fine of up to 50,000 Hong Kong dollars and imprisonment for 6 months!
(Photo: Hong Kong FEHD)
In other words, it is illegal for you to bring those free-range chickens and eggs back to Hong Kong from the inside.
A similar case occurred last year. However, these cases are related to hairy crabs.
(Photo: Sing Tao Daily)
Hairy crabs are sought after by Hong Kong people because of their deliciousness, and they are also "sought after" by criminals because of the large price gap between the two places.
After all, if you buy and sell crabs in Hong Kong at the price of mainland crabs, you can make a lot of money.
The price of hairy crabs in Hong Kong (Photo: Xiaohongshu)
However, if the mainland hairy crabs want to be transported to Hong Kong, they need to have a health certificate from the place of export, which is equivalent to the "ID card" of the hairy crab, without which it is a "black household" and will not let you in.
After all, these lawbreakers are "reselling", and if they do not have these certificates, they can only come to Hong Kong through smuggling.
However, smuggling in Hong Kong ultimately failed. One of the largest hairy crab smuggling cases was a hairy crab weighing more than 10 tons!
(Photo: HK$01)
The 48,000 hairy crabs escaped the stomachs of Hong Kong diners and could not escape the inspection of Hong Kong Customs.
It is worth mentioning that hairy crabs are not on the list of prohibited or controlled items, and if they are eaten by themselves, if the quantity is reasonable, they can be brought back to Hong Kong directly through the green channel.
(Photo: Little Red Book)
The illegal point of this case is not the "hairy crab", but the fact that this quantity is obviously not eaten by oneself but "re-sold" in Hong Kong, and it has not undergone health quarantine, so it is suspected of "smuggling".
Although there are restrictions on what can be brought back to Hong Kong from the mainland, for the time being, Hong Kong people have basically brought back everything they can bring back from the mainland.
Cross-border grocery shopping and returning to Hong Kong
Although it is illegal to bring raw meat back to Hong Kong, it is permissible to bring fruits and vegetables back to Hong Kong.
Now, in addition to going north to consume, many Hong Kong people have also started to buy vegetables across the border.
A Hong Kong grandmother even took a shopping cart and backpack to the vegetable market in Shenzhen to "sweep the goods", and even bought ginger back to Hong Kong.
(Photo: Sing Tao Headlines)
Bringing so many things back to Hong Kong seems too tiring to mainlanders, but Grandma smiled and said that shopping in Shenzhen is not about spending money, but making money!
Open Xiaohongshu, and you can see a lot of similar things.
(Photo: Little Red Book)
You can even see Hong Kong people carrying 20 kilograms of flour back to Hong Kong in the mainland.
(Photo: Little Red Book)
At the border clearance, you can also see many Hong Kong people waiting to cross the border with vegetables.
(Photo: Little Red Book)
Although cross-border food shopping is "fragrant", everyone must be careful not to bring raw meat back to Hong Kong, just take pictures, and bring it back to Hong Kong to be suspected of "smuggling".
(Photo: Little Red Book)
As long as it is within the legal range, you can bring as much as you want when you return to Hong Kong!
But then again, Hong Kong is not allowed to bring raw meat and eggs into the country, and that's because Hong Kong is really strict about food control!
The FEHD has made great contributions
When it comes to food control in Hong Kong, it is natural that the "FEHD" is inseparable.
The full name of the FEHD is "Food and Environmental Hygiene Department", and literally everyone should know that it is responsible for food safety and environmental hygiene.
(Photo: Internet)
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has a Centre for Food Safety (CFS) which is responsible for food safety in Hong Kong.
Strict control is naturally due to the explicit requirements of the law.
In Hong Kong, there are many laws on food safety, and there are many categories for them, such as milk powder, food colorings, sweeteners, and metal content.
(Photo: Hong Kong Food Safety Centre)
The punishment is not light, just selling expired food, once convicted, the maximum penalty is a fine of 50,000 Hong Kong dollars and imprisonment for 6 months!
In addition, there is a special food alert page on the official website of the Hong Kong Food Safety Centre.
(Photo: Hong Kong Food Safety Centre)
In addition to publicizing the problematic foods for you to see, these things will also be recalled.
(Photo: Hong Kong Food Safety Centre)
For example, the Hong Kong Food Safety Administration will not allow a curry powder that has recently been found to be problematic in the market and will be recalled accordingly.
Moreover, for the sake of public health in Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety can be said to be "resolute".
At the end of February this year, Hong Kong immediately announced that it would stop importing poultry meat from some parts of the United States to Hong Kong due to the announcement of an outbreak of avian influenza in some parts of the United States.
(Photo: UFood)
You must know that last year, Hong Kong imported tens of millions of meat and eggs from this part of the country, and as long as there is a problem, it is also said that it will be suspended.
Everyone still remembers the incident of Japan's nuclear contamination, and after the nuclear contamination, Hong Kong has successively stopped importing many Japanese products to Hong Kong.
(Photo: Internet)
More recently, when the Centre for Food Safety inspected a batch of imported food last month, it found seaweed products manufactured in Japanese prefectures under control.
The center also handled it very quickly, sealed all these products, and did not let them enter the market for sale, and the center is still following up on how to transport them.
(Photo: FEHD)
In short, it is precisely because Hong Kong has such strict food safety controls that Hong Kong people can eat with peace of mind and stay healthy.
Finally, let's talk about your thoughts on food safety.