### Food Safety Ordinance 《食物安全條例》

37. Seizure, marking or destruction of food
(1) If it appears to an authorized officer that a term of a food safety order has been contravened by a person bound by the order in respect of any food, the officer may—
(a) seize and remove from the person any of the food or any package in which it is contained;
(b) affix to any of the food that is in the person’s possession a mark, seal or other designation; or
(c) destroy or otherwise dispose of any of the food that is in the person’s possession or cause it to be destroyed or otherwise disposed of.
(2) The Director may, in a court of competent jurisdiction, recover from a person referred to in subsection (1) any reasonable costs incurred under subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c) as if those costs were a debt due to the Director from that person.
(3) Before an authorized officer destroys or otherwise disposes of any food or causes any food to be destroyed or otherwise disposed of under subsection (1)(c), the authorized officer must record a description and other details that are sufficient to identify the food.
(4) The Director must keep a record made under subsection (3) for a period of not less than 12 months.
(5) If a court convicts a person of an offence under this Part, the court may order that any one or more of the following is forfeited—
(a) any food to which the conviction relates;
(b) any similar food found on the person’s premises or in the person’s possession at the time of the commission of the offence or of the seizure of the food to which the conviction relates;
(c) any package in which food referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) is contained.
(6) Any food or package forfeited under subsection (5) may be disposed of in the manner specified by the Director.

38. Offence to tamper with mark, seal or other designation
(1) A person commits an offence if the person, with intent to deceive another person, removes, alters or obliterates a mark, seal or other designation affixed under section 37(1)(b).
(2) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable to a fine at level 5 and to imprisonment for 6 months.

39. Authorization of public officers
(1) The Director may authorize a public officer to be an authorized officer for the purposes of this Ordinance.
(2) An authorization—
(a) must be in writing; and
(b) may be given in relation to specified provisions of this Ordinance or in relation to this Ordinance generally.

40. Delegation by Director
The Director may in writing delegate any function or power of the Director under this Ordinance to a public officer or class of public officers.

### Food Safety Ordinance 《食物安全條例》

41. Confidentiality
(1) Except as provided by subsection (2), a public officer must not disclose or give to another person any information concerning a trade, business or manufacturing secret that has come to the knowledge of, or into the possession of, the public officer in the course of the public officer’s exercise of powers or performance of functions under this Ordinance.
(2) A public officer may disclose or give to another person information referred to in subsection (1)—
(a) in the public officer’s exercise of powers or performance of functions under this Ordinance;
(b) under an order of a court under subsection (3); or
(c) with the consent in writing of all persons who appear to the public officer, after reasonable inquiry, to be interested in the confidentiality of the information.
(3) If in any proceedings a court considers that the justice of the case so requires, the court may order the disclosure of information referred to in subsection (1).
(4) A public officer who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 5 and to imprisonment for 6 months.
(5) It is a defence for a public officer charged with an offence under this section to show that at the time of the alleged offence the defendant—
(a) believed that there was lawful authority for the defendant to disclose or give the information to the other person and the defendant had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise; or
(b) did not know and had no reasonable cause to believe that the information disclosed or given was information referred to in subsection (1).

42. Protection of public officers
(1) A public officer is not personally liable for anything done or omitted to be done by the public officer in good faith in the exercise of a power or performance of a function or purported exercise of a power or purported performance of a function under this Ordinance.
(2) The protection conferred by subsection (1) does not affect any liability of the Government for the act or omission.

### Food Safety Ordinance 《食物安全條例》

43. Codes of practice
(1) The Director may issue any code of practice that in the Director’s opinion is suitable for providing practical guidance in respect of this Ordinance.
(2) If a code of practice is issued under subsection (1), the Director must, by notice published in the Gazette—
(a) identify the code;
(b) specify the date on which the code is to take effect; and
(c) specify for which of the provisions of this Ordinance the code is issued.
(3) The Director may from time to time revise the whole or any part of a code of practice issued under subsection (1).
(4) Subsection (2) applies, with the necessary modifications, in relation to any revision made under subsection (3) as it applies in relation to the issue of a code of practice.
(5) The Director may at any time revoke a code of practice issued under subsection (1).
(6) If a code of practice is revoked under subsection (5), the Director must, by notice published in the Gazette—
(a) identify the code; and
(b) specify the date on which the revocation is to take effect.

44. Use of codes of practice in legal proceedings
(1) A failure by a person to observe a provision of a code of practice does not of itself render the person liable to any civil or criminal proceedings.
(2) However, if in any legal proceedings the court is satisfied that a provision of a code of practice is relevant to determining a matter that is in issue in the proceedings—
(a) the code of practice is admissible in evidence in the proceedings; and
(b) proof that the person contravened, or did not contravene, the provision may be relied on by any party to the proceedings as tending to establish or negate that matter.
(3) In any legal proceedings, a code of practice that appears to the court to be the subject of a notice under section 43 is to be taken to be the subject of that notice in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
(4) In this section—
code of practice (實務守則) means a code of practice issued under section 43 as revised from time to time under section 43(3);
court (法院) means—
(a) a court as defined by section 3 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1);
(b) a magistrate; or
(c) the Municipal Services Appeals Board;

legal proceedings (法律程序) includes proceedings of the Municipal Services Appeals Board on an appeal under this Ordinance.