Another carcinogenic toxin found in Hong Kong fish

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061208/hl_afp/hongkonghealthfoodfish_061208100641

Another carcinogenic toxin found in Hong Kong fish Fri Dec 8, 5:06 AM ET



HONG KONG (AFP) - Hong Kong shoppers were on alert following the discovery of another cancer-causing toxin in fish, the latest in a string of food-related health scares in the territory.

The government said Friday that tests on samples of saltwater fish sold in Hong Kong's markets had traced small amounts of the banned antibiotic nitrofuran.

In small doses nitrofuran is used to treat illnesses such urinary infections, however larger doses are believed to be dangerous and potentially carcinogenic.

Dr Mak Sin-ping, controller of the Centre for Food Safety (CFS), a government lab, said the chemical was found in minute concentrations in samples of pompano, tiger grouper and flowery grouper fish.

"As the levels of nitrofurans detected in the fish samples were low, normal consumption should not pose any adverse health effects," Mak said in a statement. "There is no cause for undue alarm.

"We would continue to monitor the situation closely to protect public health," she said.

Some of the contaminated fish were bought from a branch of the Park n Shop supermarket chain, which is owned by Asia's richest man, tycoon Li Ka-shing. The rest came from a fish wholesalers.

The fish are believed to have been imported from mainland China, the source of the vast majority of the tiny former British colony's food.

Supplies of freshwater fish from the mainland -- which come under stricter import checks that saltwater fish -- have been halted since samples were found with the cancer-causing industrial dye malachite green, a banned additive that is nonetheless found in some farm-fish feed.

Media reports say mainland wholesalers are believed to have unilaterally stopped the imports in protest at Hong Kong's increasingly stringent food safety standards.

The latest fish scare follows many in the past couple of years that have prompted temporary import bans, mostly concerning the presence of malachite green.

However, chicken eggs recently came under the spotlight after it was found the carcinogenc Red Sudan dye was being added to some mainland chickens' feed to produce red egg yolks, seen as a delicacy in China.

There have been other recent scares, over pork from China and poultry imports amid bird flu outbreaks.