Digital Policy Office wins Outstanding Gold Award in Privacy-Friendly Awards 2025
The Digital Policy Office (DPO) has won the Outstanding Gold Award in the Privacy-Friendly Awards 2025 organised by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong. This prestigious recognition fully affirms the DPO's outstanding achievements in personal data privacy protection and safeguarding data security.
Attending the award presentation ceremony today (July 10), the Commissioner for Digital Policy, Mr Tony Wong, said, "While the DPO has always strictly complied with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, it also actively promotes and optimises data governance policies and measures, ensures personal data privacy and at the same time facilitates data interchanges to deliver more innovative and user-friendly digital government services. This award is a professional recognition of the team's efforts in balancing digital development and privacy protection." Mr Wong expressed his gratitude to the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data and the judging committee of the Awards for their acknowledgement.
The theme of this year's Awards was "Safeguarding Data Security: Marching towards a New Digital Era", which aimed to recognise the efforts and commitment of enterprises, public and private organisations as well as government departments in the protection of personal data privacy. The event also served to encourage organisations to strengthen data governance and enhance their awareness of personal data privacy and data security. Awardees were evaluated against five specified privacy protection measures, which were the key assessment criteria.
Digital Policy Office wins Outstanding Gold Award in Privacy-Friendly Awards 2025 Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
CFS finds trace amount of Enterococci in samples of individual batches of bottled mineral water
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (May 28) that two samples of bottled mineral water were found to contain trace amount of Enterococci. The CFS is following up on the incident.
A spokesman for the CFS said, "Under its routine Food Surveillance Programme, the CFS collected bottled mineral water samples at retail level for microbiological testing, including tests for Escherichia coli, Coliform bacteria, Enterococci, Spore-forming sulphite-reducing anaerobes and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The test results showed that two samples of the individual batches of bottled mineral water below contained Enterococci at a level of one Colony Forming Unit in 250 millilitres, while all other tested parameters (Escherichia coli, coliform bacteria, Spore-forming sulphite-reducing anaerobes and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were satisfactory (i.e. not detected).
According to the Microbiological Guidelines for Food, Enterococci shall not be tested presence in bottled natural mineral water. As a precautionary measure, the CFS has informed the retailers/distributors concerned to stop sales and remove from shelves the affected batches of the products below. The distributors concerned have also initiated voluntary recalls of the affected batches of the products concerned. Members of the public may call the respective hotlines below during office hours for enquiries about the recalls.
Product details are as follows:
Product name: Still Scottish Mountain Water
Brand: Marks & Spencer
Volume: 750ml
Best-before date: December 2026
Distributor: ALF Retail Hong Kong Limited
Hotline: 3656 2253
Product name: LOTTE ICIS Natural Mineral Water 8.0
Brand: Lotte
Volume: 2 litres
Best-before date: September 22, 2027
Distributor: Goldtop Century Ltd
Hotline: 2632 7373
Since January 2026, the CFS has collected 50 samples of bottled drinking water for testing. Apart from the two unsatisfactory samples mentioned above, all other samples passed the tests.
"Enterococci are a group of bacteria commonly found in the gastrointestinal tracts of humans and animals, generally posing a low risk to healthy individuals. However, certain strains may cause infections in immunocompromised individuals. Members of the public should stop consuming the affected batches of the natural mineral water. Anyone who feels unwell after consuming the products, such as experiencing symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea or fever etc, should seek medical treatment," a spokesman for the CFS said.
The CFS had alert the trade, and will continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action. An investigation is ongoing.
Source: AI-found images
