For the second time in a month, Covid-19 has been detected on packaging on a cargo of dairy products imported from Hong Kong.
The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) announced that the products have already been “sealed and destroyed”, and have not entered the market.
The IAM pointed out that the bureau obtained a positive result from a nucleic acid test conducted on a plastic wrapping film sample from the packaging of a pallet of the dairy products while inspecting and testing imported food products in Pier 7A on Monday night.
The bureau later confirmed that the products involved a pallet of 24 plastic crates of yoghurt weighing 201.6 kilogrammes.
A contingency plan was immediately put into action, with measures such as tracing and investigation, as well as re-testing. Information about those who came in contact with the products was also submitted to health authorities for investigation and follow-up.
In line with the contingency plan, the bureau conducted follow-up measures, immediately sealed the cold-chain products concerned and destroyed them.
Samples were also taken from the packaging of other products that were in the same shipping container for testing, while the surroundings were thoroughly disinfected.
A total of 51 samples of external packaging were collected and tested, with “no abnormalities” found in the test results.
The bureau also urged both the public and businesses to enhance cleaning and disinfection of the packaging of imported food products.
The bureau added that the cleaning and disinfection of imported fruit and cold-chain products’ packaging have been enhanced, while the samples collected for random testing have also been increased. On average, the packaging of around 100,000 boxes of refrigerated food is disinfected each week and staff involved in cold-chain food product processing must undergo an NAT every 48 hours.
A similar incident involving the packaging of a batch of refrigerated milk imported from Hong Kong occurred late last month. The packaging also tested positive for Covid-19, The Macau Post Daily reported.
