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In response to press enquiries on Meiji milk powder containing radioactive substances, a spokesman for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department's Centre for Food Safety (CFS) said today (December 6) that the CFS was now trying to obtain more information from the Japanese authorities and Hong Kong distributors.
The CFS has all along been concerned about the safety of food imports from Japan. Since March 12, 2011, i.e. the day of the nuclear plant incident, the CFS has stepped up tests of radiation levels of food products (including milk powder) imported from Japan according to the guideline levels (iodine-131 (100 Bq/kg), caesium-134 and caesium-137 (1,000 Bq/kg)) laid down by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex).
The guideline levels are set for Radionuclides in Foods Contaminated following a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency in testing the radiation levels of food products. According to the Codex, when radionuclide levels in food fall within the corresponding guideline levels, the food should be considered as safe for human consumption.
Up till now, over 57,000 samples of Japanese food products collected at import, wholesale and retail levels have been tested. Among them, three samples of vegetables imported from Chiba prefecture were detected to contain radioactive substances at levels exceeding the Guideline Levels adopted by the CFS on March 22, 2011. All the remaining samples passed the tests (including 140 samples of milk powder imported from Japan).
To safeguard food safety in Hong Kong, the CFS will closely monitor information from Japan as well as the radiation testing results of Japanese food products in Hong Kong and elsewhere. We shall also make reference to the recommendations of international authorities including the World Health Organization, and the International Atomic Energy Agency with an aim to review, and adjust if necessary, our surveillance strategy on food products imported from Japan.
Ends/Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Issued at HKT 21:14
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