Hong Kong imports the vast majority of its food and is particularly exposed to food processing standards in other countries. As a result, the government has established stringent food safety laws under the Food Safety Ordinance and conducts extensive testing of food products entering the territory. Despite this, however, Hong Kong has suffered a number of food scares in recent years ranging from improperly processed meat to mishandled chicken products and vegetables.

In the past, food safety issues were largely tackled with a microbiological approach, but this approach has not been completely effective in curbing foodborne diseases.

On the contrary, even some developed countries have reported increased incidences of foodborne illness. This may be due to a variety of reasons from more frequent dining out and changes in cooking practices, to evolving food pathogens, negligence within the food industry itself, consumer ignorance, and failures in food management practices.

The increasing globalisation of the food industry has also led to more food problems caused by food allergens.

To provide an answer to these problems, it must be understood that most foods have to go through a sequence of processing procedures as they travel from farm to fork. At each stage along the journey there is the potential for the food to become contaminated by chemicals or micro-organism or deteriorate in quality. This means that effective food safety management must also include managing the processing, transportation, storage and handling of food in order to ensure that the food is safe to consume.

As food safety involves a number of multi-disciplinary issues, this has led to the development of sophisticated preventive and food safety management approaches and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) programmes. Having said this, however, the responsibility for food safety does not just lie with the food producers, processors and retailers, it also falls on the government or regulatory bodies and on consumers themselves.

The role of the government is to legislate and enforce appropriate food safety laws and regulations and provide investigatory and treatment support in the event of outbreaks of a food related illnesses or safety crises. This means that the government must collect outbreak and epidemiological data for the development of handling strategies and educational support for the food industry and the general public.

One must also consider the behaviour of food producers and handlers, their mindsets and attitudes and the need to build a culture of food safety. As citizens and consumers of food, we should all be vigilant, avoid high-risk foods and practise good food hygiene at home. This means that food safety can only be achieved through our concerted efforts and by adopting a multi-disciplinary approach.

As cities grow and food supply chains become more complex, the need for appropriately trained and experienced food safety professionals has never been greater.

The Master of Food Safety Management programme currently offered by HKU SPACE in collaboration with Cardiff Metropolitan University adopts a multi-disciplinary approach in training students to be effective food safety officers and managers through a comprehensive curriculum that includes:

• Epidemiology
• Management of Risk
• Management of Outbreaks of Food Borne Disease
• Food Safety Management Systems
• Policy and Strategy Studies; and
• Research Methods