Food alert on contaminated frozen mussel meat

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) today (November 25) appealed to retailers to stop selling a certain batch of frozen mussel meat from Sanford Limited of New Zealand suspected of being contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The alert was made after CFS was informed by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) of a product recall as a result of the detection of Listeria monocytogenes in samples of frozen mussel meat processed by Sanford Limited's Havelock processing premises.

According to the New Zealand authorities, some of the suspected contaminated frozen mussel meat had been imported to Hong Kong under the following NZFSA Health Certificates:
NZL2007/FEL90/421077,
NZL2007/FEL90/421241,NZL2007/FEL90/421453,
NZL2007/FEL90/421552 and NZL2007/FEL90/422451。

A CFS spokesman said Listeria monocytogenes may cause fever, headache, vomiting and diarrhoea. As with most other pathogens, Listeria monocytogenes could be killed by heat. Healthy individuals are rarely affected by this pathogen. The effect on pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and people with lowered immunity, however, could be severe, which may include miscarriage and meningitis.

"As a precautionary measure, we have contacted the local importers concerned and informed the trade of the incident, urging them to stop selling the product. We are also closely monitoring the situation.

"We also urge members of the public, especially the high-risk groups, to cook frozen mussel meat and other seafood thoroughly before consumption," the spokesman said.

Ends/Sunday, November 25, 2007

Issued at HKT 19:53