The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety has announced that a batch of Japanese scallop samples has been found to contain excessive levels of heavy metals (inorganic arsenic, also known as white arsenic), which can cause cancer and heart failure. The Food Safety Center has instructed the relevant importers to stop selling the products, although details about the affected seafood products have not been announced.
The Food Safety Center announced yesterday (24th) that a batch of scallops originating from Japan contained metal impurities exceeding the statutory standards. The impurities were inorganic arsenic, also known as white arsenic. The highest legal limit for these heavy metals is 0.5 parts per million (ppm), while the tested samples contained 1.91 ppm, nearly four times the limit.
The aforementioned scallop samples were taken by the Food Safety Center at the import level. Although the Center has not announced details about the company of the seafood products, the batch of scallops should not have reached the market. The Center has instructed the relevant importers to stop selling the affected products and will follow up on the results, including tracing the source of the problematic food and taking samples for testing. There is no need for the public to be overly concerned.
Under the Food Adulteration (Metallic Contamination) Regulations (Cap. 132V), it is illegal for anyone to sell food with a metal impurity concentration higher than the statutory upper limit. Offenders will be prosecuted. Upon conviction, the maximum penalty is a fine of $50,000 and imprisonment for six months. The Food Safety Center will continue to investigate under these regulations.
According to the information from the Food Safety Center, arsenic is a common element in nature and exists in both organic and inorganic forms in food. The latter is more toxic, and fish and seafood will accumulate arsenic taken from the environment in their bodies. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives has evaluated arsenic and set a provisional weekly tolerable intake of 15 micrograms per kilogram of body weight for inorganic arsenic.
Inorganic arsenic is a class I carcinogen listed by the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, also known as white arsenic, a poison often mentioned in classical Chinese literature. The Food Safety Center indicates that symptoms of acute arsenic poisoning include severe vomiting and diarrhea, muscle cramps, facial edema, and heart failure. Reports show that ingestion of 2 to 21 grams of arsenic can cause death.
Chronic arsenic poisoning can cause skin damage, nerve damage, skin cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, and vascular lesions. Exposure to arsenic can lead to nausea, vomiting, reduced production of white and red blood cells, vascular damage. In children, long-term exposure to arsenic can potentially impair intelligence, and ingestion by pregnant women can harm the fetus. Although the relationship between arsenic intake and the onset of other diseases is not very clear, there is evidence that arsenic intake can cause cardiovascular disease and hypertension.
The Food Safety Center advises consumers to purchase food from reliable shops and maintain a balanced diet, avoiding excessive consumption of shellfish.