Unsatisfactory ice-cream sample announced

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (November 18) announced that a sample of soft ice-cream in durian flavour, made upon order, was found to contain a total bacteria count and a coliform count exceeding legal limits. The CFS will continue to follow up on the case.

A CFS spokesman said, "The vendor concerned is a premises in Causeway Bay holding a provisional light refreshment restaurant licence. A kind of soft ice-cream in durian flavour sold by the shop was first detected to contain a total bacteria count and a coliform count exceeding legal limits by the CFS last month. The vendor suspended sale of the affected ice-cream immediately afterwards. The CFS has been proactively following up on the matter and stepping up inspection of the premises concerned since then. When the ice-cream was put back on sale, the CFS took a follow-up sample for testing and results showed that the total bacterial count of the sample was 5.8 million per gram and the coliform count of the sample was 6 900 per gram, exceeding the legal limits again."

Under the Frozen Confections Regulation (Cap. 132 sub. leg. AC), each gram of frozen confection for sale should not contain more than 50,000 bacteria or over 100 coliform organisms. The maximum penalty for offenders is a fine of $10,000 and three months' imprisonment.

The spokesman said, "The fact that the total bacteria count and the coliform count exceeded the legal limits indicated that the hygienic conditions were unsatisfactory, but did not mean that consumption would lead to food poisoning. The CFS has informed the vendor of the test results, provided health education on food safety and hygiene for the person-in-charge and staff of the restaurant concerned, and requested the vendor to stop selling the affected ice-cream."

The CFS will continue to follow up on the case closely to ensure food safety and safeguard public health.

Ends/Tuesday, November 18, 2014