Hong Kong Consumer Council’s ice cream warning as tests show some exceed legal limit for bacteria
- Watchdog tested 29 frozen treats and discovered two brands had higher levels of bacteria
- Officials also express concern over high levels of sugar and fat in tested samples
Among the 29 frozen treats tested by the Consumer Council, two exceeded the legal bacterial count, raising concerns over unhygienic food production.
The watchdog’s study found that Mint Chocolate Premium Ice Cream from Appolo contained 58,000 bacteria per gram, and carried 10 units of coliforms per gram.
They also found that KFC’s Creamy Milk Choco Cookies Sundae had a bacterial count of 15,000 per gram and 280 units of coliforms per gram.
Frozen confectionery should not contain more than 50,000 bacteria per gram or more than 100 coliform bacteria per gram, the city’s Centre for Food Safety says.
“Although it may not cause immediate food poisoning, the hygiene condition in those samples was below standard,” Lui Wing-cheong, vice-chairman of the council’s research and testing committee, said.
He also urged manufacturers to improve quality control measures and follow hygiene standards from the production process to the point of sale to reduce the risk of contamination.
A spokesman from Appolo said the company conducted strict standards of operating procedures before placing products on the market.
Meanwhile, two samples of ice cream were also found to have sorbic acid, a preservative that is not allowed to be used in dairy-based and fat-based frozen desserts.
McDonald’s Strawberry Sundae with Choco Shell, and Sweets House Cha Cha’s Deluxe Soft Cream in matcha green tea flavour were found to contain sorbic acid.
“Sorbic acid is of low toxicity, but because of other ingredients such as chocolate syrup, glutinous rice balls, red beans purée were added to the frozen confections, the source of the sorbic acid could not be determined,” Lui said, adding that the information had been given to the Centre for Food Safety for further assessment.
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The council also found that 65 per cent of the treats were considered to be high in sugar, based on the labelling guidelines from the Centre for Food Safety. The tested samples had 12 to 22.7 grams of sugar per 100 grams.
The Valrhona Chocolate Gelato from XTC Gelato had the highest sugar content, with 22.7 grams of sugar per 100 grams.
“While our chocolate XTC Gelato does have a high sugar level, the energy level is lower than comparable products as we have low proteins and the least fat of the products compared,” a spokesman from XTC Gelato said. The local gelato shop also said it would be looking at ways to improve and reduce sugar in its recipes.
The council also studied the fat content of ice cream samples and found that Marks and Spencer’s Dessert Menu Chocolate Ice Cream had the highest, at 21.4 grams of total fat per 100 grams.
Lui warned that overeating ice cream could pose a risk to obesity, diabetes and heart problems.
He also advised parents to pay attention to nutrition labels and take note of how much ice cream their children eat during the summer.
A spokesman from Appolo stressed that the company had conducted strict standards of operating procedures before placing products on the market. In-house testings show that their coliform counts were below 100 units per gram.
“We strongly believe that the samples the Consumer Council tested had a higher chance to be contaminated during collection, delivery, and the defrosting process,” he added.
Other brands were not immediately available for comment.
