Auditor chews out (note 1) the food safety checkers

Checks by the Centre for Food Safety on whether packaged foods carry information on nutrition as the law demands have been slapped (note 2) with a “highly flawed (錯誤)” label by the Audit Commission because the focus is limited to large supermarket chains.

 

The center, which comes under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, checked 16,245 food labels from July 2010 to June this year and identified 111 compliance failures (不遵照規定). That represented an overall compliance rate of 99.3 percent.

 

But Director of Audit Benjamin Tang Kwok-bun ordered independent follow-ups in 55 smaller retail outlets, with checks on labels and laboratory test. Forty-six outlets looked to be afoul of (note 3) the “1+7” core nutrients (養料) law that took effect in July last year, with 60 percent of 70 food samples falling short of (note 4) legal requirement, Under 1+7, labels must have information on energy and seven nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, total fat, saturated fatty acids (飽和脂肪), trans-fatty acids (反式脂肪), sodium and sugars. And a nutrition label must also include the amounts.

 

Allied to the criticism of the food safety agency’s sampling being focused on large supermarkets was the point that these carry a relatively lower risk of non-compliance.

 

In turn, this means more leeway for (note 5) food producers to skip procedures when dealing with more modest operation.

 

The auditor also said that checks on smaller-scale (小規模) operations should take in wider range, such as health and ethnic-based shops and snack outlets.

 

In addition, the audit follow-up action included laboratory checks on 20 food samples to verify nutritional claims. Ten percent looked to be short of meeting the conditions of (note 6) such claims.

 

Among them, a high-fibre (高纖維質) claim on one product was suspect, and another appeared to have failed to meet conditions for a low fat claim.

 

(note 1) chews out=嚴厲責備

Bite off more than one can chew=不自量力; 過份自信

Clew that fat [rag]=閒談, 聊天

Chew upon [over]=沉思, 細想

 

(note 2) slapped=攻擊

A slap in the face=臉上一巴掌, 一個耳光; [比喻] 受到拒絕, 侮辱、感到失望

Slap Victor on the back=拍拍Victor脊背 [表示贊許等]

 

(note 3) to be afoul of=衝突,纏住

Run [fall] afoul of=和…碰撞

Run afoul of the law=和法律抵觸

 

(note 4) falling short of=不足的, 不夠的. 短少的

Short memory=善忘

A short temper=急性子

In the short run=在短時期裏

Nothing short or=完全是; 不折不扣的

Victor is short of money=Victor缺少錢

In short=簡單地說; 總之

Short-sell stocks=拋空股票

 

(note 5) more leeway for=多些靈活性

Retain a certain leeway=保持相當的靈活性

 

(note 6) meeting the conditions of=達到要求

In good [bad, poor] condition=情況良好 [不好]; 健康 [不健康]; (物件) 無 [有] 破損; (食品) 新鮮 [不新鮮]

On no condition=在任何條件下都不可以