The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (November 13) announced that an ox spleen sample was found to contain excessive Clostridium perfringens, a pathogen. The CFS is following up on the case.
"The CFS collected the abovementioned sample from a restaurant in Sai Wan for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme. The test result showed that the sample contained Clostridium perfringens at a level of 90 000 per gram. According to the Microbiological Guidelines for Food, ready-to-eat food that contains more than 10 000 Clostridium perfringens per gram is considered unsatisfactory," a CFS spokesman said.
Clostridium perfringens is widely distributed in the environment. Foods prepared in bulk, especially cooked meat and poultry dishes, and stored at ambient temperatures with a long cooling period after cooking are at high risk. Consuming food contaminated with excessive Clostridium perfringens may cause symptoms such as abdominal pain and diarrhoea.
The spokesman said that the CFS had informed the restaurant concerned of the test result. The vendor has already stopped selling the affected kind of food according to the CFS' advice and will carry out thorough cleaning of the premises. The CFS has also provided health education on food safety and hygiene for the person-in-charge and staff of the restaurant.
The CFS will continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action to safeguard food safety and public health.
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