Saturday 22 February 2025
Light Rain
Temperature17.0°C
Relative Humidity79%
Weather Last Update 22:10

Programme Areas

Food Incidents and Response Management

Food Poisoning Outbreaks Related to Food Trade

Local Situation

  • Over the past five years, the numbers of food poisoning cases referred to the Centre for Food Safety for investigation ranged from around 120 to 230 each year in Hong Kong. The numbers of persons affected ranged from around 500 to 800.
  • Bacterial foodborne agents are the leading causes of food poisoning outbreaks.

Causative Agents

High-Risk Foods

Important Contributing Factors

  • Cross contamination of ready-to-eat food by raw food
  • Cross contamination by food handlers
  • Inappropriate storage of ready-to-eat food at temperature of 4-60 °C
  • Prolonged storage of ready-to-eat food at room temperature
  • Inadequate cooking, especially in case of seafood

Safety Tips

Last revision date: 15 Aug 2023