Press Releases
SFH on Taiwan contaminated products and outbreak of E. coli-O104 infection in Germany
Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) made by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, after attending the opening
ceremony of the Hospital Authority Convention 2011 this morning (June 7):
Reporter: (about testing DINP and DBP levels at Taiwan products)
Secretary for Food and Health: The Centre for Food Safety will investigate
the human damage that could be caused by various plasticisers. I think it
would be a while before they can do the risk assessment and decide whether
there should be one of the items that will be testing or imposing bans. We
have received information from the Taiwan authorities about the products
they have discovered and imposed bans on internally. There are lots of
exchanges of information right now. We have to assess the risks before we
continue with other actions.
Reporter: (about total ban of Taiwanese food)
Secretary for Food and Health: At the time being, we find that those
contaminated foods in Taiwan are already banned from sale locally. For those
products imported to Hong Kong, we have received very thorough information
from the Taiwan authorities. We are also doing our own testing on various
imports. At the moment, I think it is not appropriate to have a total ban on
Taiwanese food or advise the public not to eat them. But we have to be
careful not to eat something that comes from a suspicious source and at the
same time, do not eat a large volume of any food at all.
Reporter: (about outbreak of E. coli-O104 infection in Germany)
Secretary for Food and Health: Concerning the outbreak of the suspected E.
coliO104:H4 bacteria in Germany, we feel that the risk is still very high
because so far the German authorities cannot identify the vector for the
source of infection. It is important that it is found, otherwise there will
be a continuation of infected cases. We cannot rule out that Hong Kong might
face an imported case eventually. The Hospital Authority and the Department
of Health have already planned for such an eventuality. So in case there is
a patient who comes into Hong Kong with infected bacteria, has relevant
symptoms and admitted to the hospital, we will isolate and treat him, and at
the same time we will trace the source of infection through his contacts and
travel history.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Issued at HKT 12:57
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