16 persons fall ill after eating scallops in Macao
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Some 16 Macao residents have developed paralytic poisoning symptoms after consuming fresh scallops so far, Macao's Health Bureau said on Wednesday.
The Bureau received the latest reports of two such cases between Tuesday and Wednesday, in which the two patients experienced dizziness, blurred vision and other shellfish poisoning symptoms.
Among the accumulated 16 patients, one of them ate scallops bought in neighboring Zhuhai, a city located on the southeastern coast of China, and the Bureau has informed its counterpart in Zhuhai.
The government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has launched an investigation into the incident and has requested local retailers to stop selling the products. The Health Bureau also called upon local residents to stop eating fresh scallops.
Meanwhile, similar poisoning cases have taken place in Hong Kong, and local authorities have asked the residents to avoid eating the shellfish.
According to the Macao Food Safety Coordination Group, bivalve shellfish including scallops, clams, oysters and mussels are prone to be contaminated by the poisonous algae at sea, especially in the summer season, and the toxin cannot be eliminated by cooking.
