Market thoroughly cleansed

August 13, 2021

The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department today announced that it conducted deep cleansing and disinfection at a market stall which had processed a batch of fish that tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

 

The cleansing and disinfection also covered the entire To Kwa Wan Market where the stall is located to safeguard the health and safety of its tenants and the public.

 

On August 10, the Centre for Food Safety collected 10 pomfret fish surface samples and packaging samples from a batch of 10 boxes of chilled pomfret fish imported from Indonesia via a flight.

 

Two of the fish samples and one packaging sample were found to be positive for the COVID-19 virus and the viral load was low. The fish concerned was imported from an Indonesian exporter PT. Perishable Logistics Indonesia.

 

Apart from stepping up the sampling of the frozen foods and their packaging imported from the exporter for testing, the centre also conducted an investigation.

 

The probe confirmed that the batch of chilled pomfret fish had been sold to Aberdeen Wholesale Fish Market and Cheung Sha Wan Wholesale Fish Market and further distributed to five retailers.

 

Deep cleansing and disinfection had been carried out at the two fish markets as a result.

 

The Government has conducted further investigations on the vendors and locations concerned to identify the people who had had contact with the affected product for undergoing epidemiological assessment and arrange quarantine or compulsory testing for the individuals concerned.

 

While an investigation is ongoing, the Centre for Health Protection, as at last night, arranged quarantine for nine staff who had come in contact with the contaminated product.

 

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus through imported frozen foods, the Government has stepped up precautionary testing measures since mid-2020, including enhanced testing of various types of frozen foods and their packaging imported from different countries and regions.

 

So far, over 14,000 samples of foods and their packaging were collected for testing and only the above pomfret fish and packaging samples were found to be positive.

 

The Government stressed that the sampling of imported frozen foods and their packaging for testing will continue.

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