3 -
To follow up, advisory letters have been sent to the licensee/nominated managers of frozen confection factories reminding them of the proper hygiene to be observed when preparing soft ice-cream.
All the 229 samples for radioactive examination were found to be within acceptable level.
During the same period, the department had received 51 reports of food poisoning cases. While the number of cases had decreased from 65 during the corresponding period last year, the number of people affected had increased from 261 to 446, mainly due to two outbreaks affecting 207 persons.
Investigations showed that 23 cases happened in domestic setting while 25 cases took place in food premises. The remaining 3 cases were from other sources.
More than half of the food poisoning cases were due to bacterial contamination. The public are reminded to observe strict personal and environmental hygiene when preparing foods, particularly in the summer months.
The number of food poisoning cases due to pesticide contaminated vegetables had decreased from 15 in the second quarter last year to four this year.
End/Wednesday, August 23, 1995
Residential Mortgage Survey results for July
The growth of residential mortgage loans for the purchase of properties in Hong Kong further slowed in July, according to the results of the latest monthly survey conducted by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
The latest figures show that the total amount of outstanding mortgage lending by the 33 institutions in the survey grew by 1.1% in July (1.6% in June) to $258.4 billion. This is slightly higher than the monthly average of 1% over the last 12 months.
The annualised rate of growth in lending over the last three months decreased to 22.6%, compared with 28.6% in the three-month period to June. The 12-month average of outstanding loans showed an annualised growth rate of 12.2%, compared with 11.5% in June.