CFS announces food safety report for April

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (May 31) released the findings of its food safety report for last month. The results of about 3 800 food samples tested were satisfactory except for five samples that were announced earlier. The overall satisfactory rate was 99.9 per cent.

     A CFS spokesman said about 1 100 food samples were collected for microbiological tests, and about 2 700 samples were taken for chemical and radiation level tests.

     The microbiological tests covered pathogens and hygiene indicators; the chemical tests included testing for pesticides, preservatives, metallic contaminants, colouring matters, veterinary drug residues and others; and the radiation level tests included testing of radioactive caesium and iodine from samples collected from imported food of different regions.

     The samples comprised about 1 400 samples of vegetables and fruit and their products; about 200 samples of cereals, grains and their products; about 400 samples of meat and poultry and their products; about 500 samples of milk, milk products and frozen confections; about 500 samples of aquatic and related products, and about 800 samples of other food commodities (including beverages, bakery products and snacks).

     The five unsatisfactory samples comprised a grass carp sample found to contain traces of malachite green, a sample of prepackaged frozen bigeye fish found to contain a colouring matter Ponceau 4R, a sample of dried Chinese white cabbage detected with excessive chromium, a sample of chicken soup with maitake mushroom and fig found to contain excessive coagulase-positive staphylococci organisms, and a choi sum sample detected with excessive pesticide residue.

     The CFS has taken follow-up actions on the unsatisfactory samples including informing the vendors concerned of the test results, instructing them to stop selling the affected food items and tracing the sources of the food items in question.
 
     The spokesman reminded the food trade to ensure that food for sale is fit for human consumption and meets legal requirements. Consumers should patronise reliable shops when buying food and maintain a balanced diet to minimise food risks.