Food safety recall round-up 13-19 January 2017
Benzoic acid exceeding limit
Hong Kong: The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) has found a canned soft drink which contained benzoic acid at a level exceeding the legal limit.
7UP Cherry 355mL per can from the US has a best before date of March 12, 2017.
A spokesman for the CFS said: "The CFS immediately followed up with major local retailers and after investigation found that the product concerned is available for sale at a retail outlet in Mong Kok.
"The CFS collected a sample for testing and the test result showed that the sample contained benzoic acid at a level of 220 parts per million (ppm), exceeding the legal limit of 160 ppm."
The vendor has stopped the sale of and removed from shelves the affected product.
Benzoic acid is a commonly used preservative in soft drinks, which is of low toxicity. Based on the level detected, adverse health effects will not be caused under usual consumption.
