Posted by
Diego
17 yrs ago
We all know how bad the frozen food is in Hong Kong.
When going to any supermarket, it is obvious that the frozen food chain has been interrupted & that most frozen items have been unfrozen & frozen again.
I tend to be extremly careful about it by checking each pack that I buy in supermarkets, but still got food poisoned a few days ago & stuck in bed with a very bad gastro enteritis for a bit more than a week.
I have enough of this situation & woulkd like to know if there is a number too call at the Health Department so that we can call & tell them that we have spotted unfrozen & frozen again items for sale in a particular shop so that they can investigate & penalize the retailer for it.
Thanks for your help!
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Diego
17 yrs ago
filet-o-panda, it is very easy to spot defrosted & frozen again items, you do not need to be an expert...
you would amazed to see how much frozen is sold this way in HK supermarkets....
i suggest you get a bit more of information in the internet on the risks of eating defrosted & frozen again food, from there, i am sure you will share my concern.
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Diego
17 yrs ago
Thanks for your input IslandHopper.
Would you then know if there is a number to call at the Health Department so that they can investigate & penalize the retailer for it?
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Hi Diego,
Write Food & Environmental Hygiene Dept.
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Hi Diego,
Write an email (directly or cc. to) the Food & Environmental Hygiene Dept., leaving your email / contact phone number. They are very quick to come back to you to investigate the case, with you (if you kept food sample/ doctor's report / proof of purchase) and the incriminated shop/restaurant (they'll go there and take sample as well for analysis).
They will also let you know of the conclusion of their investigation.
They react quite quick (less than a couple of hours after i cc.d them - much faster than the supermaket chain where i faced an unacceptable "peremption date" issue).
http://www.fehd.gov.hk/comments/contact_us.html
Hoping you and your family will get better soon....
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Diego
17 yrs ago
Thanks a lot Mayita
I got rid of all the food as I did not think I would have been that sick.
I will make sure I keep all this for next times.
Isn't there some kind of phone hotline that we can call for them to send a surveyor in the next few hours in a supermarket where I would have spotted some defrosted frozen again items?
Thanks a lot!
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Everything is on the link IslandHopper sent you.
I think they need to receive the complaint in writing (mail or fax ok).... for the sake of other people's health, pls. send them an email asap...
They react really FAST, esp. if there is a public health concern (as seems to be the case with you).
Unless you write / email them, nothing will be done....
There's no big deal, and asking them to investigate does not mean you are bringing up false accusation against the supermarket.... just that you want an enquiry following food poisonning....
(you could also ask for it if you had just SEEN unfrozen / refrozen food being sold in the shop)
PS : btw, i hope there won't be any "next time" to you, in spite of what your last post suggested...
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Diego this is a common problem here and has been for many years. I have over years taken out of a freezer compartment in a well known supermarket chain foods that are completely defrosted which have been put in to re-freeze after delivery. I make a point of taking it all out and calling the store manager to remove it and I wait whilst they remove it all.
The Health & Food Department is Tel: 2189 2748 and the Sec for F&H is Dr Chow Tel: 2973 8100. If more people like yourself report this the more these stores will get procecuted for it. This is a public health concern and when it effects children and old folk it is quite horrid! There is no need to write or email just call in the first instance and if you have some of the food still left they will collect it from you and check out the store asap.
Hope this helps.
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Diego
17 yrs ago
sarahjames, I am glad I am not the only one concerned by this.
The problem for me is that i do not trust the people inside these stores, they have no notion of the re-freezing risks. I am convinced that they would put back the products once you are gone or at night once the store is closed...
This is why I would prefer rapid action for some surveyor to come immediately, assess the illegality& fine the store on the spot...
I am so obsessed by this, I was thinking of offering the Health & Food Dept. to appoint me as a surveyor free of charge....
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Diego, don't spend time on this thread, pls. call them and report the shop immediately. I would have already done it if I had seen it myself...
Kids & Gramps might be affected (some people actually may die due to food poisonning).
Whatever the way you inform them, the F&H administration does act FAST.
Thanks
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CF
17 yrs ago
Any possibility that it may not have been the food - but rather a viral gastro.
I had a bout of it the week before CNY. I visited the doctor to get a needle to stop being sick and he told me that there was a lot of gastro bugs going around at the moment.
Not discounting your concerns about freezing/refreezing, but maybe offering another potential reason for your illness....
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"diarrea (i can NEVER spell that one!)
diarrhea. ;)
Reason #4 Firefox is a superior browser: Built-in spell checker.
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"diarrhoea, me thinks."
In UK English that is the spelling. US English spells it "diarrhea"
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so FOP is correct then!
If food, especially meat is left to defrost and then refrozen the chances of growth of bacteria is considerably increased. If depends on the temperatures and the handling.
The supermarket chains defrost meat and put them out as 'fresh' with the tinest print on the label saying 'previously frozen' on it.
I have reported them in the past when I have seen the staff standing on the shelf of the open freezer with thier shoes on the goods inside. I appreciate that the dirt from the shoes can't permiate the wrapper, but you have to touch the wrapper to get into the package and you could therefore be unwittingly comtaminating your own food!
Imagine what the staff member could have walked in on the street on the way to work or in the store area or even in the rubbish depending on what he was doing before. That then gets transferred on to the package of your frozen meat and is frozen along with the contents. Or another customer has picked up the packaging to examine with hands covered in bacteria from outside, or accidentally sneezes on it, then puts it back.
It goes home with you. You do all the right things, even washing your hands before starting the preparation. then you open the packet! hey presto the newly defrosted germs are on your hands or utensils and your hands are on the meat. You cook it correctly (just the gestational temperature the bacteria love) and then you eat - remembering to wash your hands (and getting the kids to do so) before you start.
hey presto, you are down for a few days - the FEHD test the store produce - no bugs (on the meat, but do they test the packaging)?
and so on it goes
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Many times these stupid supermarkets only print previously frozen in Chinese, so for us expats we have no way of knowing, you need to just assume it has been frozen already.
Complaining about being sick from the food will get you nowhere here, look who owns the supermarkets. They have been getting away with screwing us on every other aspect of daily life without punishment for years, so I don't think anything will happen now.
Remember that the food and environmental hygiene dept are completely clueless and culturally Chinese people have little knowledge of food hygiene, they will queue up rows deep to eat in the biggest dump you have everseen, quoting the maxim that the dirtier the kitchen the tastier the food. 90% of restaurants in HK would be closed down in the western world and these supermarkets would be sued crazy.
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