GS1 Hong Kong Launches Quality Food Scheme+ to Boost Traceability, Food Safety Control and Management for Local Food Industry

HONG KONG, CHINA -�Media OutReach - 9 September
2020 – GS1 Hong Kong launches a brand new “Quality
Food Scheme+” programme
to encourage food & beverage enterprises to adopt more stringent measures in
accordance with internationally accredited standards in terms of management,
control and traceability, for example identifying critical control points along
the food supply chain, which helps to enhance food safety and instil trust in
consumers.

(From left to right) Patrick Tong, General Manager of
Tong Shun Hing Poultry (HK) Co. Ltd.; May Chung, Chairperson of Hong Kong Food
and Beverage Industry Advisory Board of GS1 HK, and General Manager of Nestlé
Hong Kong Ltd.; Anna Lin, Chief Executive of GS1 HK; Ben Tsang, Managing
Director of SGS Hong Kong; Heidi Ho, Principal Consultant of GS1 HK.

Triple
Confidence Using a Trio of International Standards

The Centre for Food Safety has issued more than 75 food alerts and results of sample
with irregularity since the start of this year. The foods not in compliance
cover seafood, vegetables, sauce, etc., from Australia, China, England, France,
Thailand, New Zealand and others.
They were either stopped sale, removed from shelves or recalled by the traders.
While food safety incidents happen regularly,
citizens have been extra cautious as the COVID-19
persists.

To
help enterprises cope with the new normal in the midst of epidemic, GS1 HK
launches “Quality Food Scheme+” (the
new Scheme) with SGS HK as the audit partner. Under the new Scheme,
participating enterprises are assessed based on more comprehensive
internationally accredited food safety standards, including GS1 Global Traceability Standard (GTS),
ISO 22000 – Food Safety Management
System Standard, as well as HACCP —
Food Safety Control Standard.

In
response to the latest infection, the new Scheme report will provide companies
with disease prevention advice, including industry best practices and how food
safety management and system is uplifted through proper technology adoption.
For example, enterprise may be advised to use appropriate sensing and analysis
technologies for real time monitoring of the food processing operation so as to
strengthen the risk management control and enhance food safety.

“SGS Hong Kong is
delighted to collaborate with GS1 Hong Kong to be the audit partner of the new
‘Quality Food Scheme+‘. We help food
enterprises to engineer food source
control, food operations and
management in accordance with internationally accredited standards; identify and analyse the potential food safety hazards
and risk, from raw materials to products, from manufacturing to
handling process;
establish control points and formulate monitoring system. It helps enterprises to reduce and control risk, ensure product quality and food
safety, protect consumers’ health, build and safeguard food organisation’s market
integrity, and ultimately enhance competitiveness.” said Ben Tsang, Managing Director of SGS Hong
Kong.

Enhance
Brand Image and Win Consumer Trust

While
the existing “Quality Food Scheme” adopts GTS (Global Traceability Standard) as
the main criteria for assessment of food across the supply chain, which is
particularly useful for product recall management; the new Scheme takes
reference to additional global standards including ISO 22000 and HACCP on top
of GTS, and provides participating enterprise with an all-rounded review to enhance
its current system and practices.

Independent
third parties, GS1 Hong Kong and SGS Hong Kong, will perform the audit for the
participating enterprises, which help them to build brand image, reputation and
win
consumer trust. The enterprises will also receive a full report with recommendations
for improvement, helping to develop a roadmap for better food safety management
with its system and hence pursuing excellence. Please visit https://www.gs1hk.org/quality-food-scheme for
the details of the “Quality Food Scheme” and the “Quality Food Scheme+” for 2021.

May
Chung, Chairperson of Hong Kong Food and Beverage Industry Advisory Board of
GS1 HK, and General Manager of Nestlé Hong Kong Ltd., is glad to see the launch
of the new Scheme. “The food and food services industry is facing many
challenges, primarily the public trust in food safety. The launch of the new Scheme
is a perfect opportunity for the industry to be appraised by 3 international
standards, improve food traceability as well as enhance food safety management
and control throughout the supply chain. When consumers see the new Scheme
logo, they feel safer to buy and consume.”

GS1
HK has organised “Quality Food Scheme” for 5 years, and over 20 enterprises are
recognised every year to commend their outstanding performance in food
traceability, supporting food safety in Hong Kong. Please refer to Appendix 1
for the recognised company list this year.

Being recognised in “Quality Food Scheme” for 3
consecutive years, Tong Shun Hing Poultry (HK) Co. Ltd. also supports the
launch of the new Scheme. Patrick Tong, General Manager of the company said,
“As a major importer of chilled poultry in Hong Kong and Macau with 10 siu mei
restaurants, food safety has always been our focus. The Scheme not only
recognised our efforts, but also inspired us to set higher goals, such as enhancing
information transparency. We have decided to step up to join the new Scheme, to
allow more extensive review on our food safety management and pre-monitoring system,
which I believe will elevate our standard in that regard.”

Anna Lin, Chief Executive of GS1 HK, noted, “It is
a pleasure to see such tenacity in the food industry to uphold food safety in
Hong Kong. In a difficult time like this, joining ‘Quality Food Scheme+‘ not only helps companies comply to regulations,
but also rebuilds consumer trust and motivates repeat purchase once the
situation gets better. Apart from the 2 Schemes, we also offer food safety and
traceability training, consultation and track-and-trace solutions. We strive to
collaborate with the industry to raise the bar for food safety in Hong Kong, so
consumers will come back with a peace of mind.” 

Appendix 1 ?

Recognised Companies of Quality Food Traceability Scheme 2020 (in alphabetical order)

 

Diamond Enterprise  
Café de Coral Holdings Ltd.

FrieslandCampina (Hong Kong) Limited

Hop Hing Oils & Fats (Hong Kong) Ltd.

Maxim’s Caterers Ltd.

Nestlé Hong Kong Ltd.

Sims Trading Co. Ltd.

Swire Coca-Cola HK Ltd.

Tong Shun Hing Poultry (HK) Co. Ltd.

Tsit Wing International Holdings Ltd.

Vitasoy International Holdings Ltd.

Wyeth Nutrition Hong Kong

 

Gold Enterprise

AEON Stores (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd.

DCH Food Mart

DCH Logistics Co. Ltd.

International Gourmet Foods Ltd.

Lorence & Company Ltd.

Sun Fat Heung Food Products Ltd.

Tai Luen Coffee Company Ltd.

 

Silver Enterprise 

Aquaculture Technologies Asia Ltd.

Starjet Trading Limited

About GS1 Hong Kong

Founded by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in 1989, GS1 Hong
Kong is the local chapter of GS1®, a not-for-profit, standards organisation
that develops and drives adoption of easy-to-implement global standards for
business to uniquely identify, accurately capture and automatically share vital
information about products, locations and assets. Headquartered in Brussels,
Belgium, GS1 has over 110 national chapters in 150 countries.

GS1 Hong Kong’s mission is to empower business to grow and to improve
efficiency, safety, authenticity and sustainability across multiple sectors and
facilitates commerce connectivity through the provision of a full spectrum of
platforms, solutions and services based on our global standards. We provide a
trusted foundation for accurate, sharable, searchable and linkable data. Our
EPC standard lays the foundation for IoT, powering a range of IoT-based
services and applications. We are helping industry to meet the challenges of
omni-channel commerce and create a seamless customer experience. By engaging
with communities of trading partners, industry organisations, government, and
technology providers, we are fostering a collaborative ecosystem and aiming for
“Smarter Business, Better Life”.

Currently, GS1 Hong Kong has around 8,000 corporate members covering close
to 20 industries including retail consumer goods, food and food services,
healthcare, apparel, logistics as well as information and technology.

For more information about GS1 Hong Kong, please visit www.gs1hk.org.