McDonald’s is being investigated by the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) for a case of gastroenteritis. A statement from the authority declared that there is insufficient evidence indicating that the gastroenteritis was caused by food from the restaurant.
The case happened on July 19 when a family fell ill after consuming take-out breakfast from one of McDonald’s many branches in town. Of the infected, three had to undergo hospital treatment and two had to be hospitalized for gastroenteritis. The parents and the younger son claimed to have diarrhea, fever and vomiting about one hour after breakfast. The three patients drank soy milk at the restaurant.
After preliminarily investigations into the case, the Health Bureau and IACM stated that there isn’t enough evidence that the family’s infection is related to the McDonald’s breakfast.
The Health Bureau deemed that the time span from their consuming the food and displaying symptoms was too short, and what’s more, the family had several meals at home during the previous two days. “Therefore it could not be confirmed that the breakfast is the cause of the gastroenteritis,” says the official statement.
The Food Safety Center of IACM collected food samples from the accused canteen, finding that the restaurant’s hygiene was in good condition. The examination result will not come out until the end of this week, according to local television TDM.
The case happened before the rotten meat scandal. The IACM confirmed last week that Shanghai Husi had supplied “Frozen Fully Cooked Crispy Chicken” to McDonald’s Macau during May and June this year.
McDonald’s Hong Kong yesterday issued another apology for a “lack of clarity, which has led to public confusion.” The company’s managing director in HK, Randy Lai, promised that the chain would never again use meat supplied by Shanghai Husi. Previously, the chain had denied using food products from the Shanghai plant. However, after reading the statement, the representative did not answer journalists’ questions during the press conference.
Japanese convenience store operator, FamilyMart, has also admitted that its “Garlic Nugget,” which it imported from the Shanghai firm, was sold at nearly all of its 10,000 outlets across Japan. GY
importer: msar has stricter standards compared to hk
The Macau Union Suppliers Association president, Ip Sio Man, claims that Macau is observing a higher standard in frozen meat importation when compared to Hong Kong. The president revealed that all frozen meat, dairy and seafood produce imported into Macau has to be declared to the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau at least 24 hours before importation. Importers also need to submit documents, such as the invoice and hygiene certificate from the place of origin. He also believes that, since it is a criminal offense and a violation of the food safety regulation to change the expiry date of products, no shop owners or staff would be willing to risk breaking the law to do it.
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