Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (May 7) urged the public not to consume certain batches of PERAIL raw sheep’s milk cheese imported from France, as the product might have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a pathogen. The trade should also stop using or selling the product concerned immediately.

“The Centre received a notification from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the European Commission that certain batches of PERAIL raw sheep’s milk cheese were found to have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The French producer concerned has initiated a recall of all batches of all specialties of the product produced between the aforesaid dates.

According to the information provided by the RASFF, a small volume of the affected product (with best before dates of May 23, 29 or 30, 2015) has been imported into Hong Kong,” a spokesman for the CFS said.

The CFS is contacting the importer concerned in Hong Kong as notified by the RASFF to instruct it to stop the sale and initiate a recall of the affected product, and trace the distribution of the food concerned.