Food Safety Centre, Macau

Prepackaged frozen whole duck

*Updated on 28 February 2017
In response to an earlier notification from the Macau authorities concerning the detection of a prohibited veterinary drug, chloramphenicol in a batch of frozen whole duck imported from Hong Kong, the CFS has immediately taken follow-up actions to ensure food safety. These included contacting the local importer concerned, instructing it to stop selling and recalling the affected products, issuing a press release to urge public not to consume the affected product and alerting the trade of the incident. In addition, the CFS has been following up on the incident closely with the US authorities and the importer concerned since then. The Centre has also conducted sampling of the frozen duck product (including the affected products from the importer/ exporter concerned and products of unaffected batch from retail outlet) for testing. The test results showed that no chloramphenicol was detected in all samples. In view of the latest investigation findings, our instruction to stop selling the captioned product was revoked.

Product name: All Natural DUCK
Brand: 'Maple Leaf Farms' and 'Woodland Farms'
Place of origin: USA
Importer: Angliss Hong Kong Food Service Limited
USDA (the U.S. Department of Agriculture) Certificate No: 022469 (indicated on product carton)
Packing: 6 pieces per carton (approximate weight: 14 kilograms)

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) received a notification from the Macau authorities that a batch of frozen whole duck imported from Hong Kong was found to contain a veterinary drug, chloramphenicol. According to the Harmful Substances in Food Regulations (Cap. 132AF), no meat (including poultry meat) sold in Hong Kong for human consumption is allowed to contain chloramphenicol.

The CFS has contacted the local importer / exporter concerned, Angliss Hong Kong Food Service Limited for follow-up. According to the information provided by the importer, a total of 800 cartons of the product under the two brand names were imported from the US (600 cartons of 'Maple Leaf Farms' product and 200 cartons of 'Woodland Farms' product). Some of the product has been sold and the remaining stock is stored in the warehouse of the importer / exporter.

The CFS is tracing the distribution of the product concerned and will alert the trade of the incident and request them to stop using or selling the affected product.

The CFS will inform the US authorities, continue to closely monitor the situation and take appropriate follow-up action to safeguard food safety and public health.

Stop using or selling the products concerned.

Not to consume the products concerned.

The CFS press release

The importer concerned has stopped the sale of the product concerned according to CFS' instruction and initiated a recall. Members of the public may call the importer's hotline at 2494 2290 during office hours for enquiries about the recall.