A REVIEW OF FOODBORNE DISEASE OUTBREAKS FROM 1996 TO 2005 IN HONG KONG AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON FOOD SAFETY PROMOTION

ABSTRACT Foodborne diseases are an important cause of morbidity and mortality and are a growing global concern. A series of recent food safetyproblems has raised much public concern in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region*. Despite the fact that many resources have been spent on food safetypromotion, there has been no noticeable impact on the rising trend of local foodborne disease outbreaks. This quantitative research study aimed to identify what should be targeted in the current local food safetypromotion. It presented a descriptive analysis of local official statisticsfrom 1996 to 2005, followed by a comparison of foodborne disease outbreaksand food safetymeasures in some Asian places. Results found that about 72% of total local confirmed outbreakswere caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticusand Salmonella spp., while around 46% of the total outbreakswere due to inadequate cooking and contamination by raw food. It suggests that food safetypromotion targeted on these factors may greatly reduce local foodborne disease outbreaks. Further elaboration could have been given if detailed breakdown in each outbreakhad been provided. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Based on the official figures, the annual incidence of local foodborne disease outbreaksand the number of victims affected are generally increasing despite the fact that many resources and much manpower have been spent on food safetypromotion and on investigating each foodborne disease outbreakin the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Official statisticsfor the past decade indicate that the majority of foodborne disease outbreakshas been dominated by some causative agents and contributing factors. Under limited resources, instead of providing some general food safetypromotion programs, it suggests that the local food safetypromotion should be targeted on these dominant factors. This may greatly reduce the number of outbreaksand victims affected. If this were carried out, not only could the economic burden in this health sector be reduced, but the public health campaigns could also be conducted more efficiently, and more resources could be released to prepare for combating other newly emerging diseases.