Hong Kong's Food Safety Report Reveals 99.9% Satisfactory Rate, Follow-up Actions Taken

Strategic Insights -

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in Hong Kong recently released its food safety report for last month, indicating a 99.9% satisfactory rate out of 6,600 food samples tested, including items purchased online. The report highlights six unsatisfactory samples that were announced earlier, with reasons ranging from metallic contaminants exceeding legal limits to the presence of Salmonella. The CFS has taken follow-up actions, including informing vendors and tracing the sources of affected food items. The department emphasized the importance of ensuring food meets legal requirements and advised consumers to patronize reliable shops and maintain a balanced diet.

Key Takeaways:

  • A total of 6,600 food samples were tested, with 99.9% found to be satisfactory.
  • The microbiological tests covered 1,900 samples of vegetables and fruit, while chemical tests included 4,700 samples of various food categories.
  • The six unsatisfactory samples comprised:

+ 1 prepackaged dried porcini sample with metallic contaminants exceeding legal limits

+ 1 prepackaged black grouper fillet sample with metallic contaminants exceeding the legal limit

+ 2 dessert samples with preservatives exceeding the legal limit

+ 1 prepackaged shrimp noodle sample with preservatives exceeding the legal limit

+ 1 chicken rice sample found to contain Salmonella

  • The CFS has taken follow-up actions, including informing vendors and tracing the sources of affected food items.
  • The department will continue to enhance testing on imported Japanese food following the Japanese Government's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water.
  • The CFS will announce radiological test results of food imported from Japan on its dedicated webpage every working day.

Statistics:

  • 99.9% satisfactory rate achieved in the food safety report
  • 6,600 food samples were tested
  • 1,900 samples of vegetables and fruit were tested for microbiological purposes
  • 4,700 samples of various food categories were tested for chemical purposes
  • 6 unsatisfactory samples were detected

Sources:

  • The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of Hong Kong Government special administrative region
  • The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) dedicated webpage (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/daily_japan_nuclear_incidents.html)
  • Contify.com, a news aggregator for business and industry news