The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) hosted two conferences on food safety for the local food industry at the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre yesterday, with over 340 representatives from the city’s hospitality and catering industries, as well as food importers and related industry chambers of commerce having been invited to participate in both conferences.
IAM Administrative Committee Vice President O Lam pointed out in a speech during the conference in the morning that the revival of tourism has boosted the recovery of Macau’s economy and, therefore, the food industry should pay more attention to food safety and ensure that the food processing environment is safe and standardised. She promised that the bureau will continue to do a better job of inspection and quarantine of food imports and in the formulation of food safety standards in “strict” accordance with international and national standards, while also continuing to conduct various training programmes on food safety for the trade.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the event yesterday morning, Macao Pastry Speciality Association President Stephen Lam Vai Hong and The Industry and Commerce Association of Macau ZAPE President Wu Tat Chong pointed out that the food industry has been paying more attention to general food safety and environmental hygiene since the over three-year-long COVID-19 pandemic.
Considering that Macau’s socio-economic situation has begun to recover after the pandemic, Lam urged the city’s food souvenir retailers to prepack their free food samples for their potential consumers, lowering the risk of hygiene, safety and environmental pollution caused by dried meat being exposed to the air and among other food souvenirs.
Wu said that the food industry has always paid close attention to food safety such as refrigerator cleaning and food preservation, adding that the bureau’s recently launched “mystery shopper” sampling method could protect Macau’s food safety image.
The Municipal Affairs Bureau’s (IAM) Administrative Committee Vice President O Lam delivers a speech during yesterday morning’s conference on food safety at the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre. – Photo: Yuki Lei
