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The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (November 5) that in view of an announcement by the United States (US) authorities that the Dungeness Crabs and Rock Crabs harvested from Californian waters between the southern Oregon border and the southern Santa Barbara County line were detected with persistently high levels of domoic acid, the CFS has decided to prohibit the import into and sale within Hong Kong of Dungeness Crabs and Rock Crabs harvested in the above-mentioned areas with immediate effect to safeguard public health and food safety. Traders who have the product concerned in their possession should immediately stop using and selling the product. Members of the public should also stop consumption.
A spokesman for the CFS said, "The CFS, through its routine Food Incident Surveillance System, learned that the US authorities had urged consumers not to eat the Dungeness Crabs and Rock Crabs harvested from waters between the southern Oregon border and the southern Santa Barbara County line because test results showed that the levels of domoic acid were persistently high in the crabs."
The CFS has informed the US authorities about the import ban and will also alert the local trade to the incident, urging them to stop importing, using and selling the products.
Domoic acid accumulation in seafood is a natural occurrence. Symptoms of domoic acid poisoning can occur within 15 minutes to 38 hours after eating the affected food, including vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, headache and loss of short term memory.
The spokesman urged consumers who had bought the products concerned to immediately stop consumption. If they have bought similar food items recently, but are not sure about their places of origin, they should also refrain from eating them for the sake of prudence and check the products' origins with relevant retailers. Members of the public should seek medical advice if they feel sick after eating the products concerned. The CFS has not received any complaints or reports of illness related to the affected products over the last three months.
The CFS will continue to follow up on the case closely and take appropriate action.
Ends/Thursday, November 5, 2015
Issued at HKT 21:15
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