Alert on bottled fermented bean curd with suspected pathogen contamination
summary：The Centre for Food Safety (CFS advised people not to consume a kind of bottled fermented bean curd cubes which might have been contaminated with Bacillus cereus, a pathogen....
Issue Date: 2013-01-04
Source of Information: Centre for Food Safety (CFS)
Food Product: Bottled fermented bean curd cubes
Product name and Description
Product name: Shui Kou Preserved Bean Curd (Chilli)(350 grams per bottle)
Best before date: December 30, 2013
Place of origin: Guangdong, China
Reason For Issuing Alert
The sample of the product contained Bacillus cereus at an excessive level of 130 thousands per gram.
Consuming food contaminated with excessive Bacillus cereus may cause gastrointestinal upset such as vomiting and diarrhoea.
Action Taken by the Centre for Food Safety
- The CFS has issued warning letters to the importer and the distributor concerned and alerted the trade to stop selling or using the product.
- CFS staff have been conducting checks at the retail outlets and so far no affected food has been found available for sale.
- The CFS has informed the Mainland authorities of the incident for follow-up actions and will continue to monitor the situation and take appropriate actions whenever necessary.
Advice to the Trade
- Stop selling or using the affected batch of the product.
Advice to Consumers
- Not to consume the affected batch of the product.
- Consumers are advised to seek medical advice if they feel sick after consuming the product concerned.
- The public is reminded to purchase fermented bean curds from reliable retail outlets, and check the expiry dates of the fermented bean curds as well as consume within the recommended period.