The Macau Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) announced in a statement on Tuesday that it has been informed by the Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety that a certain brand of bottled spicy fermented bean curd with chili oil contains excessive levels of Bacillus cereus*.
According to the statement, the bureau has immediately issued a food alert to the local food industry and dispatched personnel to conduct market inspections to prevent the affected batch from circulating.
The bureau urged citizens to stop consuming the problematic product and advised the trade stocking the items to cease their supply and sale.
The product is Giant Tree Brand’s “Salted Bean Curd Cubes in Brine With Chili (With Sesame Oil)”, sourced from the Chinese mainland, with best-before-day of August 19, 2027. The sample was tested and found to contain 180,000 Bacillus cereus per gram, which fails to comply with both the local microbial guidelines and the relevant standards set in Macau’s “Microbiological Guidelines for Ready-to-eat Food,” the statement said.
IAM had issued a statement about the same product on October 3 when it warned that it was possibly contaminated with Bacillus cereus, urging the public to stop consuming it.
According to the statement, Bacillus cereus is widely present in the natural environment. Improper handling or storage of food during production can increase the risk of its growth and toxin production. Generally, consuming food contaminated with excessive Bacillus cereus or its heat-stable toxins may cause gastrointestinal discomfort, such as vomiting and diarrhoea.
*Its Latin name describes the bacterium as a tiny, rod-shaped organism that has a waxy appearance. – DeepSeek
This undated handout photo downloaded last night from the “wellcome” online supermarket shows the Giant Tree Brand’s “Salted Bean Curd Cubes in Brine With Chili (With Sesame Oil)” product that was found to contain 180,000 Bacillus cereus per gram and, consequently, has been ordered by the authorities in Hong Kong and Macau to be taken off the shelves.
