PRESS RELEASE
(For Immediate Release)

(Hong Kong, 30th August 2000) PARKnSHOP, Hong Kong's leading supermarket chain today announces a new alliance with Ng Fung Hong, leading fresh food distributor and wholesaler in Hong Kong, to bring about a Transformation in the hygiene and safety of the fresh pork sold in its stores.

PARKnSHOP has worked with Ng Fung Hong to develop a new 'state-of-the-art' pork cutting facility at Fanling.

Designed in line with world's best hygiene and safety operating principles, this multi-million dollar pork cutting facility enables PARKnSHOP to ensure its selected pigs are killed hygienically, transported from slaughterhouse to cutting room in temperature-controlled conditions, cut up and processed in conditions of world-standard hygiene, and transported to stores in chilled, sealed trucks. The process takes around 6 hours from slaughter to arrival at stores.

PARKnSHOP pigs, and samples of pork, will also be tested for biological or chemical contamination, including for the presence of Clenbuterol, a drug used illegally to enhance rate of growth of pigs.

"Our alliance with Ng Fung Hong in opening this new cutting plant provides us, for the first time, with a fresh pork supply chain whose standards meet those of the best in the world" said Andrew Brent, Marketing Director of PARKnSHOP.

Pork accounts for over 50% of all the meat in Hong Kong, but the traditional supply chain has been vulnerable both to poor hygiene practice in cutting and transporting pork, as well as to contamination by pigs fed on illegal substances like Clenbuterol.

"We at PARKnSHOP have been working to address this for some time and finally, with the announcement of our strategic alliance with Ng Fung Hong, we feel we have done so," Mr Brent added, "we will now be able to select the pigs we sell and ensure they are supplied from farms operating in line with best hygiene practice".

PARKnSHOP will be able to audit, monitor and test the pigs, and pork samples, all the way from the farm to its stores to ensure no contamination has occurred.

And, with the opening of the new cutting facility, PARKnSHOP can ensure its pork is killed, cut, and transported in standards of world-class hygiene.

"We believe this represents a Transformation in the quality and safety of our fresh pork supply chain, and is a really significant contribution to better food safety in Hong Kong," Mr Brent continued.

As part of its on-going Fresh Check programme of hygiene improvements, PARKnSHOP plans to Transform its other fresh food supply chains - for meat, fish and vegetables in the months ahead. All these transformation processes will be driven by the principles of:

- Traceability: the ability to identify the source of any fresh food sold in its stores

- Auditing and Testing: to ensure good hygiene practice is maintained at every stage of the supply chain

- World's Best Standards of Handling, Processing and Distribution: including maintenance of appropriate temperature regimes

All these will help to deliver PARKnSHOP's stated Fresh Check Campaign Goal of providing Hong Kong's shoppers with fresh food whose hygiene and safety standards match those of the best in the world.