Report retailers selling canned fish products containing worms

TUARAN: Consumers in Sabah are advised to lodge a report at the nearest health office should they come across retailers still selling canned fish of the brands reported to be tainted with worms.

Sabah Health director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi said this was to enable the department to monitor and carry out inspection.

“The Sabah Health Department has also carried out ‘food alert’ inspections on the presence of worms in imported canned fish products. We already know the brands of the products and have instructed vendors to take the products off the shelves.

“However, consumers can lodge reports at the nearest health office if they find that there are still those (vendors) who have not done so or they have bought other canned fish products and would like to enquire more about the matter,” she told reporters yesterday.

On May 14, the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (MAQIS) Department reported that worms that could cause the anisakiasis disease in humans were found in samples of canned fish imported from China of the Ranesa brand that was brought in through the North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) in Penang.

The worms were discovered through the physical examination and sampling of several cans that arrived in two containers of ‘Canned Mackerel in Tomato Sauce’ of the RANESA brand, with an estimated weight of 36,720 kg and worth RM199,797.24, that were held at NBCT.