HONG KONG: Hong Kong has banned the import and sale of all raw oysters from British Columbia, after Canada’s food inspection agency issued a recall due to bacteria contamination.
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in Hong Kong announced here the other day that oysters harvested in the Canadian province are banned with immediate effect.
A statement on its website read, “The Centre for Food Safety banned the import of oysters for raw consumption harvested in coastal waters of British Columbia in Canada as well as brown crabs from the Isle of Anglesey in the United Kingdom.”
The bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus that was detected in the oysters causes diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and abdominal pain, with symptoms lasting for up to one week.
Last week, several media outlets reported there had been at least 33 cases of gastrointestinal illness in Canada linked to the consumption of the contaminated oysters.
The ban on crabs, meanwhile, was imposed after two brown crab samples from the UK were found to have excessive metallic contaminant cadmium, 15 parts per million and 22 ppm, exceeding the legal limit of 2 ppm.
