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With immediate effect, all incoming pork and pork products from Germany will be held for examination and will only be released into the market if the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) is satisfied that the products are fit for human consumption.
The announcement was made by the CFS of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (January 12) as an extension of the CFS' precautionary "hold and test" measure which covers all imported German eggs and poultry and took effect from January 10, 2011.
"According to information from the European Commission's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, with the exception of two consignments of eggs exported to the United Kingdom via the Netherlands, no affected products were exported to other countries. The German authorities also suspended food exports from the affected farms and processing plants," a CFS spokesman said.
"The British Consulate General and the Netherlands Consulate General in Hong Kong have also confirmed that no affected products have been exported to Hong Kong."
From January to November 2010, Hong Kong imported about 148,000 tonnes of pork and pork products from Germany, accounting for about 20% of the total imported pork and pork products.
The spokesman said, "Over the past few days, we have collected from retail outlets and importers 12 samples, including eggs, pork sausages and poultry products, which were reported to be from Germany. The dioxin test results will be available in about seven days.
"There is no immediate health concern for people consuming the affected products over a relatively short period of time, based on the levels of dioxins detected by the German authorities so far known to the CFS."
From 2007 to 2010, a total of about 400 samples of food (including meat, poultry, eggs, aquatic products as well as milk and milk products) were tested by the CFS for dioxins. All were found to be safe for consumption.
"We will continue liaison with the German authorities and the European Commission, and monitor the situation closely," the spokesman said.
Ends/Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Issued at HKT 22:08
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