Not to consume a batch of bottled salted egg paste suspected to contain excessive Staphylococcus aureus

Issue Date 21.2.2019
Source of Information

Food Safety Centre, Macau

Food Product

Bottled salted egg paste

Product Name and Description

Product name: Salted Egg Paste

Brand: English name not available

Place of origin: China

Distributor: Un Chi Enterprise Development Company

Net weight: 180 g per bottle

Best-before date: October 25, 2019

Reason For Issuing Alert
  • The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) received a notification from the Food Safety Centre, Macau, that a sample collected from the abovementioned salted egg paste imported from Hong Kong was detected with Staphylococcus aureus at a level of 150 000 organisms per gram, exceeding the standard of Macau. Under Hong Kong's Microbiological Guidelines for Food, if ready-to-eat food contains Staphylococcus aureus and other coagulase-positive staphylococci at a level of more than 10 000 organisms per gram, it is also considered unsatisfactory.
  • The CFS immediately contacted the local distributor concerned for follow-up. According to the information provided by the distributor, the affected batch of product was available for sale in Hong Kong and had been sold out.
Action Taken by the Centre for Food Safety
  • The distributor concerned has initiated a recall according to CFS' instructions.
  •  The CFS is also tracing the distribution of the product concerned.
  •  The CFS will alert the trade, continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action.
Advice to the Trade
  • Stop using or selling the product concerned immediately should they possess it.
Advice to Consumers
  • Not to consume the affected batch of product if they have bought it.
Further Information

The CFS press release

Members of the public may call the distributor's hotline at 2650 3802 during office hours for enquiries about the recall.

Centre for Food Safety
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
2019-2-21

Back