Food safety recall round-up 25-31 August 2017
Patulin in apple juice
Hong Kong: The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) has warned about a juice drink from Australia with too high levels of patulin - a mycotoxin.
Cold Pressed Apple & Strawberry 1L of the brand Preshafruit distributed by The Dairy Farm Company with use by September 6, 2017 is affected.
"Following up on a case referred by a relevant organisation, the CFS collected the above-mentioned sample at a supermarket in North Point for testing. The test result showed that the sample contained patulin at a level of 93 parts per billion, exceeding the action level of 50ppb adopted by the CFS. The level is the same as the standard of the Codex Alimentarius Commission on patulin in apple or apple juice," said a CFS spokesman.
"Generally speaking, apple juice with a low level of patulin will not cause acute intoxification. However, studies have shown that gastrointestinal hyperaemia, distension, haemorrhage and ulceration could be resulted if animals are exposed to high levels of patulin over a short period of time."