Tests find illegal additive in meat
Preservatives that can brighten the colour of fresh meat to make it more appealing to shoppers were found in five samples taken for tests by the Centre for Food Safety.
Its fifth food safety report released yesterday said about 15,600 samples were tested, of which around 3,200 were taken for microbiological tests and 12,100 for chemical tests.
Sulfur dioxide, a preservative illegal to use in fresh meat, was found in four samples of fresh beef and one of fresh pork at levels ranging from 79 parts per million to 2,400ppm. The samples were taken from wet markets and fresh food stores in Lam Tin, To Kwa Wan, Aberdeen and Kowloon City.
Miranda Lee Siu-yuen, assistant director of food surveillance and control at the centre, said preservatives were added to fresh meat to brighten its colour. 'Though sulfur dioxide is of low toxicity and should not pose significant health effects on consumers, it is not permitted in fresh meat. People allergic to the chemical might develop asthma or headaches.'
The banned cancer-causing chemical malachite green was detected in food from four eateries - two samples of fried mud carp meat ball, minced fish in fried eggplant, and minced fish in fried green peppers. The amount of malachite green ranged between 0.0045ppm and 0.033ppm.
Dr Lee said the centre had difficulties when tracing sources of foods with unsatisfactory results. 'We have problems tracing fish suppliers for the minced fish food products, as operators at the retail level might not have kept good records of all receipts for food stocks they purchase.
'Also, some might not want to tell us who their suppliers are, as they are business partners.
'But we will have a new law in the future to require retailers to keep records of receipts for their food stocks purchase.
'Then it will be easier for the centre to trace sources.'
A spokeswoman for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said the Food Safety Bill was now under review.
Other chemicals found included residues of veterinary antibiotics. A frozen suckling pig imported from Vietnam contained 0.16ppm of chlortetracycline. And 0.63ppm of doxycycline was found in frozen chicken wing tips imported from Spain. Both exceeded the legal limit of 0.1ppm.
'The suckling pig was transported back to the exporting country, while the frozen chicken wing tips were planned for re-export. So they are not available in the market for sale in Hong Kong,' Dr Lee said.
The report also said norovirus nucleic acid was found in a raw oyster sample taken from Cafe Marco in Tsim Sha Tsui.
'We believe the stocks were consumed. But we received no complaints or food poison reports regarding the raw oyster,' Dr Lee said.
