Meat Industry INSIGHTS Newsletter

971040 Hong Kong Finds No Deadly E-Coli Bacteria In U.S. Beef

October 16, 1997

HONG KONG - The Hong Kong government said on Tuesday it had found no fatal E-coli bacteria on more than one tonnes of tested U.S. beef, and that retailers were allowed to sell the meat.

Health officials tested the beef imported from Iowa Beef Packers Inc(IBP - news) after South Korea had earlier found traces of the deadly E-coli 0157:h7 strain in the company's meat.

Souel Korea has since banned the sale of IBP beef.

The Hong Kong government said in a statement that local importers and retailers could resume the sale of beef from IBP. Importers and retailers had frozen sales pending the test results.

The bacteria strain was blamed for killing 12 people in Japan in 1995 and 20 people in Scotland this year. The germ was also found in beef on sale in a Japanese shop and a wholesale butcher's in Hong Kong earlier this year.

No E-coli deaths have been reported in the Hong Kong cases.

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