The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) announced in a statement yesterday that the internal packaging of a batch of frozen shrimps imported from Indonesia tested positive for COVID-19, but the infected products have meanwhile been destroyed and none of them were sold to Macau’s retail and wholesale markets.
The statement underlined that the bureau adopted a contingency plan by sealing and destroying 23 boxes of frozen shrimps after the COVID-19 nucleic acid test (NAT) turned out positive. Therefore, the goods did not enter the local market. The statement added that the surrounding environment was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, while data about the staff involved will be sent to the health authorities for further investigation and follow-up.
The statement noted that the bureau will suspend all import applications from the Indonesian supplier for a week, starting from yesterday.
The bureau urged retailers and wholesalers to place special emphasis on the disinfection of their imported goods’ external packaging. The bureau also urged residents to wash their hands after touching imported goods from retailers, such as supermarkets, in order to “prevent the importation of COVID-19 cases”.
The statement said that the bureau has reinforced the cleaning and disinfecting of the external packaging of frozen food products, as well as fresh fruit packaging, noting that 100,000 such boxes have been disinfected on average per week. The statement noted that 42,000 samples of imported foods underwent NAT tests from January until yesterday.
Meanwhile, according to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) COVID-19 pandemic prevention measures, the staff engaged in the frozen food products sector must undergo an NAT test once every 48 hours, the statement underlined.
This undated handout photo provided by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) yesterday shows a batch of frozen shrimp that is covered by a plastic bag with a “disinfection” sticker.
This undated handout photo provided by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) yesterday shows two small boxes of frozen shrimp in a large box.
