The Health Bureau (SSM) announced in a statement yesterday that a local shop faces a fine for selling “cigar egg rolls”.
According to the statement, during recent inspections, the bureau’s tobacco and alcohol control officials discovered that the shop was selling cigar-shaped egg rolls with the word “cigar” as part of the product’s name.
According to Article 18 of the Macau Tobacco Prevention and Control Law, the manufacturing and sale of games, toys, electronic games, food or sweets in the shape of tobacco products, or with distinctive signs of tobacco brands, is prohibited.
The bureau noted in the statement that the shop may be subject to a fine ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 patacas.
Meanwhile, the bureau’s tobacco and alcohol control officers conducted 65,548 inspections of business premises between January and March, averaging 728 inspections per day, during which 1,524 cases were violations of the Tobacco Prevention and Control Law, such as 1,459 cases of smoking in no-smoking areas, 43 cases of carrying e-cigarettes across border checkpoints, and 22 cases suspected of violating other provisions of the law, such as failure to display no-smoking signs in locations as required by law, and failure to post notices prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to individuals under 18 years of age at points of sale.
Additionally, two violations of the Alcohol Consumption Control Law were recorded, the statement said, such as businesses selling or serving alcoholic beverages that failed to display the required warning labels in Chinese, Portuguese, and English when advertising alcoholic drinks; failing to post legally required signs prohibiting the sale or provision of alcohol to minors; and self-service outlets failing to demarcate and clearly label separate areas for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
The statement also noted that the types of businesses with the highest number of smoking in no-smoking areas cases were casinos – 254 cases, accounting for 17.4 percent of the total; restaurants, 245 cases, accounting for 16.8 percent; and public bus stops ,192 cases, accounting for 13.2 percent.
This undated handout photo provided by the Health Bureau (SSM) yesterday shows a tobacco and alcohol control official and a Macau Customs Service officer inspecting a shop.
