The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said on November 15  that a sample of mixed vegetable ingredient of a made-to-order smoked salmon mixed vegetable salad was found to have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Follow-up is in progress.

A spokesman for the CFS said, “The CFS took the sample of smoked salmon mixed vegetable salad for testing from a licensed food premises in Sha Tin under a risk assessment study on microbiological quality of vegetables and vegetable salads. The result showed that the salad sample contained Listeria monocytogenes at a level of 2 400 per gram, exceeding the standard of the Microbiological Guidelines for Food which states that no more than 100 of the pathogen per gram should be detected.”
The CFS has informed the premises concerned of the irregularity and instructed it to stop selling the food item in question immediately.

The CFS has also provided health education on food safety and hygiene to the person-in-charge and staff of the premises. The premises have voluntarily suspended its business temporarily to carry out thorough cleaning and disinfection. The CFS is also tracing the sources of the ingredients of the affected food item.

“Listeria monocytogenes can be easily destroyed by cooking but can survive and multiply at refrigerator temperatures.