CFS follows up on prepackaged lemon juice concentrate suspected to contain undeclared preservative incident

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     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said today (January 24) that according to the latest information provided by the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the European Commission, the recall of the prepackaged lemon juice concentrate produced in Italy which was suspected to contain a preservative, sulphur dioxide but undeclared on the product's food label had been expanded. The CFS' follow-up investigation found that the importer concerned had imported another four batches of the affected lemon juice. The CFS advised consumers who are allergic to sulphur dioxide to refrain from consuming the affected products. The trade should also stop using or selling the products concerned immediately.

     Product details are as follows:

(1) Product name: Dressing Lemon Juice/Zitronensaftkonzentrat
Product brand: Piacelli Citrilemon
Place of origin: Italy
Packing: 200 millilitres per bottle
Best-before dates: July 14 to December 17, 2020

(2) Product name: Dressing Lemon Juice/Zitronensaftkonzentrat
Product brand: Piacelli Citrilemon
Place of origin: Italy
Packing: 1 litre per bottle
Best-before dates: July 14 to December 17, 2020

(3) Product name: Dressing Lemon Juice-Lime/Limettensaftkonzentrat
Product brand: Piacelli Citrigreen
Place of origin: Italy
Packing: 200 millilitres per bottle
Best-before dates: July 14 to December 17, 2020

(4) Product name: Dressing Lemon Juice-Lime/Limettensaftkonzentrat
Product brand: Piacelli Citrigreen
Place of origin: Italy
Packing: 1 litre per bottle
Best-before dates: July 14 to December 17, 2020

     A CFS spokesman said, " The CFS announced earlier that a batch of the abovementioned brand of lemon juice was suspected to contain sulphur dioxide but undeclared on the food label. According to latest information on the expansion of recall of the product concerned provided by RASFF, CFS conducted follow-up investigation and found that the importer concerned, Coils Electronic Co. Ltd, had also imported the above four batches of affected lemon juice which contained sulphur dioxide but undeclared on the food labels and some of them were sold. The CFS has instructed the importer concerned also to initiate a recall of the affected batches of the products. Members of the public may call the importer's hotline at 3960 9349 during office hours for enquiries about the recall."

     Sulphur dioxide is a water soluble preservative of low toxicity. However, susceptible individuals who are allergic to this preservative may experience breathing difficulties, headache and nausea.

     The CFS will alert the trade, continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action. Investigation is on-going.

Ends/Thursday, January 24, 2019
Issued at HKT 20:15

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