Norwegian salmon recalled after bacteria found
Consumers in Singapore have been assured that the vast majority of fresh Norwegian Atlantic salmon on sale here does not have the listeria monocytogenes bacteria, which can cause such infections as diarrhoea.
The Norwegian Seafood Council said in a statement yesterday that the supplier in Norway had informed Singapore importer Yu Fish that a batch of fresh salmon from a lot produced last Thursday was found with the bacteria even before the authorities here recalled a batch that was found to be tainted.
The council's director of Southeast-Asia, Mr Asbjorn Warvik Rortveit, said that since correcting measures are being carried out, "the vast majority of fresh Norwegian Atlantic salmon currently in the marketplace is not affected at all and should be considered perfectly safe to eat, both raw and cooked".
Extra-cautious consumers can eat fully cooked salmon as the bacteria will die under high temperature, a Yu Fish spokesman told The New Paper yesterday.
The Singapore Food Agency issued a recall to Yu Fish on Wednesday after it detected the bacteria in a sample of Atlantic salmon from Norway.
The spokesman said the affected batch of salmon has been fully recalled. He said the affected quantity amounted to 0.5 per cent of the 117,000kg of salmon that Norway exported to Singapore last week.
"Coupled with an expected high recall rate, therefore, the majority of the Norwegian salmon in Singapore remains totally safe to consume."
Mr Rortveit said that his country's salmon are raised in the cold, clear waters of Norway, with every aspect of development closely monitored by technologically advanced systems.
INSPECTED
He added that about 14,000 export-ready Norwegian salmon "are inspected by the independent Institute of Marine Research each year".
NTUC FairPrice said yesterday that salmon from the affected batch were withdrawn from all its outlets before being put on sale, except for one at Northpoint City.
The supermarket chain said customers who bought Atlantic salmon from Northpoint City can return it to the same store with the receipt for a full refund by Aug 15.
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