Hong Kong authorities ordered a licensed mobile ice cream vendor in Central to stop selling soft ice cream after a sample was found to contain coliform bacteria levels exceeding the legal limit.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s Centre for Food Safety said on Thursday that the sample contained 310 coliform bacteria per gram. This amount is more than three times the limit of 100 per gram under the Frozen Confections Regulation.
The watchdog informed the licence holder of the irregularity and ordered the vendor to immediately stop selling and dispose of all affected soft ice cream products. Officials also instructed the operator to carry out thorough disinfection of the van and provide food safety and hygiene education to the person in charge.
“The fact that the coliform count exceeded the legal limit indicated that the hygienic conditions were unsatisfactory, but did not mean that consumption would lead to food poisoning,” a spokesman for the centre said. The identity of the vendor was not made public by officials.