IAM says food safety violations decreasing

The number of food safety violations has gradually decreased, according to the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM).
Yesterday, during a TDM radio program, the Vice Chairman of Administration Committee on Municipal Affairs of IAM, Lei Wai Nong, said that due to multiple years of effort by IAM, IAM has started noticing the number of food safety violations decrease.
Statistics provided by Lei show that there were 84 violations in 2015, while in 2018 the number dropped to 66 cases. From January to September 2019, IAM recorded a total of 48 violations.
Over the past few years, IAM has been working with the Macao Customs Service to seize undeclared and unquarantined food.
The peak year in which the bureaus seized the highest number of unquarantined foods was 2016. A total of 7,700 kilograms of unchecked food was seized that year. In 2018, the bureau seized a total of 2,121 kilograms of undeclared food and as of September 2019, the bureau has seized a total of 1,238 kilograms of undeclared food, according to Lei’s statistics.
In 2013, the city’s food safety law came into effect. Since then, the food safety inspection department has inspected more than 6,500 food providers across the city, with more than 60,000 inspections conducted.
In total, IAM handled 130 cases of food poisoning, opened files for 368 infractions, and seized more than 23,000 kilograms of unquarantined food. JZ