THE Health Department is testing samples of frozen breaded crab claws which were removed from shelves in some stores yesterday after the O-157 bacteria was said to have been detected in the food in Shenzhen. A department spokesman said officers bought samples from a market on Friday after learning the bacteria was detected in the South Korean-made product imported to Shenzhen via Hong Kong last month. She said they were contacting Shenzhen authorities to confirm whether the bacteria detected was O-157:H7, the type which has killed 11 people and affected nearly 10,000 others in Japan over the past few months. Secretary for Health and Welfare Katherine Fok Lo Shiu-ching said the public would be kept informed about the tests, results of which were expected next week. The product's sole agent in Hong Kong, Huge Treasure Enterprise Limited, was informed by the Shenzhen Inspection Bureau last Thursday that the bacteria had been detected in a sample of the imported product. Huge Treasure executive director Pao Man-kit said: 'The Korean manufacturer and we are very concerned and willing to co-operate to find out if it is really the product having problems. 'The goods were issued with a health certificate in Korea before being exported.' The Chinese brand name of the product in question, as reported in the Shenzhen press, was slightly different to that of Mr Pao's product. Mr Pao said he was not sure if his brand, called 'Breaded (Kobe) Crab Claw' in English, was the one found to contain the bacteria. Some stores decided to remove breaded crab claw products from their shelves yesterday pending more information. Department store Yaohan removed deep-fried breaded crab claws from menus at the fast food shops in their eight branches to allow a thorough investigation of the product, although initial checks with the supplier had shown the food to be safe. A Yaohan spokesman said frozen breaded crab claws were still available in their supermarkets because the product was from China and not Korea. A Health Department spokesman said people should cook the food very well at a temperature of at least 70 degrees, which was hot enough to kill the bacteria.