Hong Kong - Vegetables from China are being tested by inspectors in Hong Kong after a scare over toxic chemical waste, the city's health secretary said on Wednesday.
The tests came after tons of toxic waste containing the cancer-causing chemical chromium were dumped in waterways feeding farmland in China's southern province of Yunnan.
Hong Kong is heavily dependent on imported food from China and its Health Secretary York Chow told reporters Wednesday the government was liaising with Chinese officials over the issue.
“They (Chinese officials) will investigate whether the farms that supply vegetables to Hong Kong are being affected by the incident,” he said. Two to three farms that supply Hong Kong are in the area.
Meanwhile, samples of vegetables from China were being tested to see if any were contaminated. None had so far been found to contain unsafe levels of the chemical, he said.
Almost all vegetables in Hong Kong, a densely populated city of 7.1 million, are imported, the vast majority from mainland China. - Sapa-dpa