Hong Kong has suspended imports from an exporter and two manufacturing plants in Brazil, after 200 tonnes of meat which they had produced as pet food were claimed to be fit for human consumption.
The Centre for Food Safety revealed a total of 10 batches of meat have been imported over the past year from the same Brazilian meat exporter. But their health certificates, which were suspected to be fake, did not indicate they were for pets.
The Centre has reported the case to Hong Kong police and Brazilian authorities. Imports from the export company and two factories involved in the 10 problematic batches, have been banned from Hong Kong immediately. Inspection of health certificates of meat imports from Brazil would also be stepped up.
The scandal was revealed after the centre received a complaint in May from a food importer, who suspected the health certificate of a batch of chicken imports from Brazil was problematic.