***********************************************************
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (June 28) announced that the import ban imposed on raw oysters from Donegal County, Ireland, has been lifted with immediate effect, except for raw oysters produced by a local processing plant, Sliogeisc Na Rossan.
While following up on food poisoning outbreaks caused by Norovirus in February last year, the CFS was notified by the Irish authorities that the virus was found in a raw oyster processing plant, Sliogeisc Na Rossan, in Donegal County. For the sake of prudence, the CFS had banned the import of all raw oysters from Donegal County into Hong Kong since February 17 last year.
A CFS spokesman said, "The Centre has been following up on the incident closely with the Irish authorities since then. In view of the submission of an investigation report and the implementation of surveillance programmes by the Irish authorities, the CFS has conducted an assessment and decided to lift the import ban imposed on raw oysters from Donegal County, Ireland, with immediate effect, except for raw oysters produced by the processing plant concerned, Sliogeisc Na Rossan."
The spokesman added, "The CFS will continue to monitor closely raw oysters imported from the area. Appropriate actions will be taken to safeguard food safety and public health."
Ends/Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Issued at HKT 18:14
NNNN