Consumer Report 297
Siu mei (Chinese barbecued meats) and braised meats are processed pork and poultry food products stored at room temperature, and sold to consumers in pieces cut manually. All the above circumstances mentioned are prone to the growth of bacteria, to safeguard consumers’ health, the Consumer Council and Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) tested 30 samples of these food products and found no pathogenic bacteria nor nonfood colourants. Moreover, the test result shows that char siu (barbecued pork) contains the highest level of sodium.
Testing result of pathogenic bacteria and colourants all satisfactory
The 30 samples came from supermarkets, restaurants, and barbecued meat outlets. All samples were tested for bacteria including salmonella, staphylococcus aureus, bacillus cereus, clostridium perfringens, campylobacter, as well as nonfood colourants such as sudan red, rhodamine B, and acid orange 7. None of the above pathogenic bacteria nor colourants was found and testing result is satisfactory.
Test result shows that for every 100g of sample, barbecued and braised food usually contain more than 500mg of sodium, char siu contains the highest level of sodium and many of the char siu samples contain over 1,000mg of sodium. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations recommend sodium consumption of less than 2,000mg a day for adults, if a consumer eats 200g of char siu, the amount of sodium consumed exceeds the daily limit recommended by the WHO. Excessive intake of sodium over long period of time increases the risk of getting kidney disease and stroke.
Consumers are recommended to patronize food outlets that are clean and consume the food products as early as possible, remaining foods must be refrigerated under 5℃ and thoroughly reheated before eating again. Food outlets staff are reminded to pay attention to personal hygiene and cleanliness of the shops must be taken care of.
Greater Bay Area Cities signed memorandum of co-operation
The SAR Government pays special attention to the national policy regarding the initiative to develop the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, and the Consumer Council plays an active role to encourage interaction and co-operation between 9 consumer organizations from the Area and Hong Kong to sign the “Memorandum of Co-operation for Consumer Protection in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area”. The Memorandum was signed in April in Macao, it is an important step in the co-operation among consumer organizations in cities in the Greater Bay Area, which includes case referrals and the Macao Consumer Council offering cross-border arbitration service to consumers. Meanwhile, the Memorandum also designates the Macao Consumer Council as the platform for case referral between cities in the Area and consumer organizations in Portugal.
Consumer Report no. 297 includes a feature on the signing of the “Memorandum of Co-operation for Consumer Protection in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area”, and recent co-operation developments between the Council and other cities in the Area.
Consumer Report is now available free of charge at the Council (Av. Horta e Costa, N.º 26, Edf. Clementina Ho), and the service counter of the Council at Macao SAR Government Service Centre (Rua Nova da Areia Preta, Nº52), Public Information Centre at Vicky Plaza, libraries, and bookstores. Consumers may also access the magazine online on the Council’s official website (http://www.consumer.gov.mo) and WeChat official account.
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