Material contamination has been confirmed as the cause of the
chemical content detected in canned meat products made by a
Shanghai food company.
On December 6, the Shanghai entry-exit inspection and quarantine
bureau suspended the export of all food products, including canned
meat, seafood, fruit and vegetables, made by Shanghai Maling
Aquarius Co Ltd. The order came after the Hong Kong hygiene
authority detected chemical contents in the company's canned meat
on December 3.
The food and environment hygiene department of Hong Kong said
low levels of nitrofurans metabolite had been found in cans of
low-salt pork luncheon meat made by Maling.
During its investigation, the Shanghai bureau found that in
September last year, Maling purchased about 3.2 tons of raw
materials from a firm in another province that turned out to be
contaminated, a bureau spokesman said.
The company unwittingly processed the tainted materials on
December 26 last year, the spokesman said, without revealing
details of the contamination.
Maling began recalling contaminated products on December 10. The
spokesman said the bureau will tighten its surveillance of the
company's processing procedures, but did not say when the export
ban would be lifted.
Nitrofurans is a drug derived from furan that is used to inhibit
bacterial growth. Frequent ingestion of nitrofurans is hazardous to
health and can cause cancer or even death.
Maling has won many domestic and international awards for its
food products, including canned meat and sticky rice. Its products
are sold throughout Asia and Europe.
(China Daily via Xinhua News Agency December 20,
2007)
