Two popular Haagen Dazs ice cream products have been recalled from supermarket shelves in Hong Kong after the Centre for Food Safety urged the public not to consume them due to the possible presence of ethylene oxide, a pesticide banned by the EU as it can cause cancer.
The 2 products affected are Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream Pint (473ml) and Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream Bulk (9.46 litres) with best-before dates of 13 April 2023 and 26 October 2022 respectively. Both products were imported from France by General Mills Hong Kong.
The decision by CFS followed an earlier report in Taiwan on the 2 contaminated products. CFS contacted the local importers and retailers for further inspection and discovered that the batches imported are similar to those withdrawn in Taiwan. CFS has urged the General Mills to recall the affected batches, while traders are informed to immediately stop selling the products.
Customers who have already purchased the affected batches can return them to General Mills and call its hotline number to arrange for a refund.
Nevertheless, only 2 Haagen Dazs products are affected and the rest are in compliance with the regulation. Ethylene Oxide can normally be found as a contaminant in baked goods, cereals, seeds, ice cream and yogurt.
The European Union (EU) has banned the use of ethylene oxide in the food industry as it is ‘carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic.’ Ethylene oxide has been classified as group one by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, meaning the chemical is carcinogenic to humans.
