The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) announced in a statement on Sunday that a brand of pre-packed rice noodles has been found to contain formaldehyde.
According to the statement, the bureau was informed by Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety (CFS) recently that the product in question is “Hsin Tung Yang Rice Noodles”, imported from China’s Taiwan region, with a net weight of 300 grammes with a best-before date of April 10, 2029.
A sample of the product was found to contain formaldehyde at a level of 12 parts per million (ppm), the statement said.
The bureau noted that formaldehyde is an industrial chemical improperly used in some food processing as a preservative and bleaching agent.
Although the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified formaldehyde as a Group 1 human carcinogen, this classification applies primarily to inhaled formaldehyde, the bureau noted. It added that, at the level detected in the rice noodles, normal consumption of the product is not expected to cause adverse health effects.
IAM urged consumers who have purchased products from the affected batch through online shopping or other channels to stop consuming them immediately. Traders must also cease the supply and sale of the problematic product without delay, according to the statement.
Undated file photo of a pack of Hsin Tung Yang Rice Noodles – Photo courtesy of foodpanda
