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Martin Wong

Fish from registered Guangdong farm the latest case in week of food scares

Food inspectors have found low levels of a cancer-causing chemical in a sample taken from mud carp from a registered fish farm in Guangdong.

Centre for Food Safety acting controller Ho Yuk-yin,  whose colleagues are due to meet their mainland counterparts tomorrow,  said yesterday the problem sample, from the Cheung Sha Wan wholesale market, was  among 18 samples collected from across the city that also included common carp, big-head carp and grass carp.

'The content level was low - 0.0067 milligrams per kilogram of malachite green,' Dr Ho said, and the sample had been traced to a registered Foshan  fish farm.

It was the second tainted  sample to come from a registered fish farm and is the latest in a series of food scares involving fish, bean curd and eggs tainted with banned dye.

Dr Ho stressed that fish importers should obtain their stocks only from registered farms.

'Like every system, a registered farm is not 100 per cent perfect. However, from a registered farm we can trace the source of tainted fish and take action promptly. It can help us to monitor food safety to a larger extent,' he said.

Under arrangements with the mainland, fish from unregistered farms are allowed into Hong Kong unless found to be unsafe.

From 11 samples of freshwater garoupa found to contain malachite green earlier last week, a small amount of Nitrofuran, a banned antibiotic, was also discovered. It was also found in the bream sample that tested positive to  malachite green on Saturday.

The Centre for Food Safety has banned imports from the two registered fish farms concerned and has asked the trade not to import mud carp for the moment.

'The level is low and the impact on health is also low but they are banned,'  Dr Ho said.

Tommy Hui Hon-man,  of the Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories Freshwater Fish Wholesale Association, said that imports of most species from the mainland had been suspended as a result of the latest scare.

'We will review the import of mud carp after getting more information from the government,' he said.

Imports of carp might now also be suspended, along with the suspension of imports of all other freshwater species currently in force, he said.

'Our business has fallen by 50 per cent already,' he said.

Mr Hui added that he believed  banned chemicals were not used deliberately.

'Even the fish farms know that if these banned chemical are found, they will lose business. The amount found was extremely low, it might have been caused by  residues remaining in the farms,' he said.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Food Safety noted that of 22 egg samples tested yesterday, none contained the dye Sudan Red. So far, seven samples out of 145 tested were found to be contaminated.



Now mud carp found to contain chemical