The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) said in a statement on Friday that during a regular food sampling inspection, it recently found that the local “Chuanma Thai Noodles” restaurant’s Thai cold chicken feet salad tested positive for an excessive amount of Listeria monocytogenes.
The statement underlined that after eating food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, people may develop symptoms such as fever, muscle pain, headache, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, while new-borns, senior citizens and people with weak immunity may suffer from serious complications and even die.
According to the statement, the bureau has immediately ordered the eatery to stop selling the problematic product, and required it to review and improve the sanitary conditions of its food and raw goods, food handling procedures and personal hygiene of its staff members, while urging the restaurant to strengthen its food hygiene management.
At the same time, the statement added, the bureau has requested the eatery to arrange for its employees to take courses to strengthen their hygiene awareness of handling and preparing food.
The bureau stressed that it will continue to follow up on the matter and that it will conduct a review and reinspection of the eatery to ensure that its food products are up to standard.
The statement underlined that Listeria monocytogenes can survive and multiply in cold temperatures but can be killed by thorough heating.
The bureau reminded the public that senior citizens, pregnant women and people with weakened immunity should avoid eating cold dishes, sashimi, sushi, cheese, and salad that have a high risk of being contaminated by Listeria monocytogenes.
Listeriosis is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, a taxonomic species within the family Listeriaceae (Gram-positive bacteria) – a common pathogen found in food products.
Electron micrograph of a flagellated Listeria monocytogenes bacterium; magnified 41,250 times. 2002 image courtesy of Elizabeth White/Wikimedia Commons
