Food and Environmental Hygiene Department

Some restaurants in Hong Kong have withdrawn from a new dog-friendly dining scheme due to limited manpower, space constraints, and cautious diners, according to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. The scheme has received about 20 complaints, primarily involving minor issues like leash length and seating arrangements.

Hong Kong restaurants are implementing pet-friendly measures like strollers and partitions ahead of a new scheme allowing dogs into eateries starting Thursday. Old Fung Tea House, part of 833 participating restaurants, is adapting under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department's policy to boost the pet economy.

The Hong Kong government has appointed Albert Yuen Yuk-kin to lead the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. He previously served as a deputy commissioner of operations with the Hong Kong police. The position is one of two high-level official roles filled through open recruitment.

Hong Kong restaurants could see a 20% business boost as 1,000 operators won places in a new dog-friendly license ballot. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department selected them from 1,615 applications, with lawmaker Chan Hoi-yan officiating the draw.

Hong Kong authorities have ordered a licensed mobile ice cream vendor in Central to stop selling soft ice cream after samples were found to contain coliform bacteria levels exceeding legal limits by more than three times. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department's Centre for Food Safety found 310 coliform bacteria per gram in the sample, surpassing the regulatory limit of 100 per gram.