Page 27 - Sphere No.16 (Apr 2006)

SPHERE 25
PARKNSHOP FRESH CHECK
■ All fresh food suppliers regularly audited
■ Fresh Check HygieneWatchers regularly audit
all stores
■ Hong Kong’s first dedicated Food Safety Laboratory
established
■ Fresh Check Food Hygiene Academy established
for staff, with 5,000+ graduates
■ Fresh food transported and stored hygienically at
the correct temperature
■ Fresh food sold in audited hygienic conditions by
trained and qualified staff
■ Samples of all fresh food are tested/audited to
identify problems before they become health hazards
■ Customers given the information needed to make
informed choices about the origin, freshness, safety,
and nutritional content of the food they buy
that have skin that is not eaten. There may be a temptation for
unscrupulous or uneducated farmers to use them on fast grow-
ing vegetables. We can’t test every vegetable. Our sampling sys-
tem is based on risk assessment. Food with a higher level of risk
is tested more often, as are purchases from new suppliers.”
The direct sampling from suppliers is not the last line of de-
fence. As a further back up, a team of buyers purchases baskets
of food from PARKnSHOP supermarkets around Hong Kong
and sends them to the laboratory for testing. The company
also puts secret “Cold Chain Spies” in its refrigerated delivery
trucks. The devices secretly record the temperature of the pro-
duce for every minute of the journey to the warehouse or store
to ensure food is kept fresh during transportation.
Despite the establishment of a comprehensive food quality
control system, new food issues in the community erupt from
time to time. The next big challenge is, of course, bird flu. Hong
Kong is probably better prepared than many other places and
Mr Johnston and his team remain on the alert for the first sign of
trouble. “We are doing more tests at chicken farms in China and
asking suppliers to be more vigilant,” he said. “We are also evalu-
ating a bird flu test kit. Let’s just hope that it doesn’t happen.”
Clockwise from top left: The laboratory at Sheung Shui,
Hong Kong; seafood stall and meat counter at PARKnSHOP;
checking toxin levels in the laboratory; fresh fruit counter
in a PARKnSHOP Superstore.