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Food safety officials are to widen their testing of imported foods for harmful chemicals and bacteria, such as antibiotics and other growth promotants fed to farmed fish.
The Food Safety Authority has already investigated imports of Chinese farmed fish, testing 31 canned and frozen products including shrimp, eel, prawns, dace, carp, anchovy, roe, and fish balls and other processed product.
That testing in May found six residues of triphenylmethane dyes and their metabolites and nine residues of nitrofuran antibiotic metabolites, none of them at levels regarded as significant to health.
In addition to triphenylmethane dyes and nitrofurans, the FSA will test for residues of the antibiotic chloramphenicol - normally used in eyedrops - and a range of other chemicals used to deal with poor water hygiene and high stock rates in land-locked farms.
The FSA is also testing roquefort raw milk cheese from the European Union for levels of e.coli bacteria.
"Raw milk cheeses can carry a higher risk for some people," said Glean Neal, FSA assistant director for NZ standards. "Our advice to pregnant women, young children, frail elderly and those with low immunity is to avoid raw milk cheeses."
- NZPA
