CFS announces food safety report for October

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (November 30) released the findings of its food safety report for last month. The results of about 15,500 food samples tested were satisfactory except for six samples which were announced earlier. The overall satisfactory rate was 99.9 per cent.
    
A CFS spokesman said about 1,300 food samples were collected for microbiological tests, some 4,600 samples were taken for chemical tests and the remaining 9,600 (including about 9,200 taken from food imported from Japan) were collected to test radiation levels.
    
The microbiological tests covered pathogens and hygienic indicators, while the chemical tests included pesticides, preservatives, metallic contaminants, colouring matters, veterinary drug residues and others.
 
The samples comprised about 4,200 samples of vegetables and fruit and their products; 900 samples of meat and poultry and their products; 1,900 samples of aquatic and related products; 1,000 samples of milk, milk products and frozen confections; 1,100 samples of cereals, grains and their products; and 6,400 samples of other food commodities (including beverages, bakery products and snacks).
 
The six unsatisfactory samples comprised two spinach samples detected with excessive cadmium, a grass carp sample detected with a trace amount of malachite green, a sample of rice with grilled pork neck found to contain Salmonella, a sample of dry noodles with stir-fried egg and BBQ pork detected with excessive coagulase-positive staphylococci, and a mushroom sample found to contain sulphur dioxide undeclared on its food label.
  
The CFS has taken follow-up action 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.
 
Ends/Friday, November 30, 2018