McDonald’s Hong Kong pulls shrimp burgers after Taiwan detects antibiotic residue
McDonald’s has temporarily removed its popular Ebi Burger series from its menu in Hong Kong as a “precautionary measure”, following a similar suspension in Taiwan due to food safety concerns, despite the shrimp patties used in the local items coming from a different production batch. Taiwan McDonald’s announced on Thursday morning that it had immediately suspended sales of “Ebi Burger” and…
McDonald's has temporarily taken off its shrimp burgers from Hong Kong menus after Taiwan halted the sales of similar products, citing food safety worries. The shrimp patties in these Hong Kong items came from an alternative production batch, according to McDonald's Hong Kong.
On Thursday morning, Taiwan's McDonald's announced its "Ebi Burger" and "Double Ebi Burger" sales were suspended following an importer's alert about nitrofurans, a synthetic antibiotic, detected in random batch testing of the shrimp patties. Nitrofurans are prohibited in numerous countries due to safety concerns. Taiwan's McDonald's apologised and offered refunds for the items sold on Wednesday and Thursday.
McDonald's Hong Kong's media response mentioned that all Ebi Burger and related products were temporarily removed from the menu as a precautionary measure to address public concern. The chain stated it was closely tracking the situation and had immediately reviewed its global supplier in Thailand. McDonald's Hong Kong confirmed that the shrimp patties used in Hong Kong were different from those distributed to Taiwan in terms of recipe and production batch.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department noted Taiwan's situation and promptly contacted McDonald's Hong Kong, which suspended the sales of the affected products. Initial investigations revealed that the recipe and batches of shrimp patties sold by McDonald's Hong Kong differed from those in Taiwan. While nitrofurans, a type of antibiotic, in food can potentially cause cancer in experimental animals, there was insufficient evidence to prove that they caused cancer in humans.
Hong Kong has banned the use of nitrofuran-related antibiotics as veterinary drugs in food animals, extending this policy to any traces found in food animals' muscle, meat, or offal. The centre stated that they have been sampling shrimp products at import and retail levels for testing and have stepped up surveillance and sampling of such food items.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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