Consul Nugroho Yuwono Aribhimo said Sunday there had apparently been a mistake made in the translation from the scientific name for the fish on the certificate to English.

"The Latin word [on the certificate] is the name of the oilfish, and the English name is the name of codfish. I don't know what's wrong with the translation between the codfish and the oilfish," he said.

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According to ParknShop, it had labeled fish it offered for sale correctly, according to the name provided on the health certificate issued by Indonesian authorities.

"There's no Indonesian name for oilfish, and we're still investigating why the translation has become codfish," the consul said.

The consulate is also investigating the authenticity of the health certificates but said it understood they had been issued by the Indonesian Fisheries Department.

The consul said the oilfish suppliers are both exporters and importers and officials would investigate.

He also said oilfish caught in Indonesia is not used for human consumption, and is only exported for use as industrial lubricants to countries like Australia, Canada and Japan.

He said exports of oilfish to Hong Kong have been halted.

Meantime, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said it has so far received 600 complaints relating to the consumption of oilfish.

ParknShop said it has already refunded cash to more than 10,000 affected customers, and Wellcome said it has given out refunds to 15 customers so far.

The controversy erupted last week after the Department of Health's Centre for Food Safety said it had received complaints from 14 people who said they fell ill after eating oil fish wrongly labeled as cod fish bought from ParknShop outlets across the territory.

The government has ordered a temporary halt to oilfish imports and a curb on sales of the product.

However, the center said there are no plans to impose a total ban on imports of oilfish whose high oil content is indigestible.