MADE-IN-CHINA canned pork products have practically vanished from shop shelves here.
Supermarkets are down to their last few cans of China-made luncheon meat, stewed pig trotters and minced pork.
'What you see is what's left,' said an NTUC FairPrice spokesman, adding that its warehouse was 'completely dry'.
Other supermarket chains like Giant and Cold Storage reported the same shortage. All said that they were having trouble replenishing the stocks.
Distributors The Straits Times spoke to said the problem started in August, when the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) rejected and destroyed a consignment of canned pork products from two food processing plants in China.
It had found traces of Nitrofurans, a banned antibiotic, which are fed to pigs to treat illnesses.
The AVA suspended all imports from these two factories, which produced the two most popular brands here, Maling and Gulong.
An AVA spokesman said on Wednesday: 'Even though the levels of antibiotic found were very low, we believe in taking no chances. Food safety is of paramount importance.'
He added that previous imports of these brands and products from other brands had passed safety checks: this means that consumers do not have to throw out any cans they may have stored in the larder.
China has had a wave of bad press recently over food scares. Excessive antibiotic or pesticide residues have previously led to bans in Europe and Japan on shrimp, honey and other products.
Distributors of canned pork here say that they have not been able to import the other lesser known brands from the six factories that are still in AVA's good books.
Friday, November 30, 2007
China-made pork products taken off the shelves
No wonder stall selling beehoon for breakfast doesn't have luncheon meat on their menu for months. Luckily we eat SPAM.
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