Manufacturer of allegedly contaminated infant juice claims not on Hong Kong shelves

The manufacturer of an imported infant apple juice claimed today its product, which was said to be contaminated, is not on sale in Hong Kong.  

HiPP Organic Mild Apple Juice, a product of the company HiPP, was considered to be contaminated with tiny magnetic particles and should not be consumed by citizens, warned the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) in an announcement on Tuesday (August 23).  

“The CFS received a notification from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed of the European Commission that the product might have been contaminated with small magnetic particles,” said a spokesperson of the CFS.  

A preliminary investigation found that the importer had imported the affected batch of the product concerned into Hong Kong, the spokesperson added.  

HiPP Hong Kong, the importer of the juice, issued an announcement today claiming the contaminated batches of products were only sold in the Polish market.  

“As of our serious investigation, the identical batches of products found sold in other regions, including Hong Kong, are not affected and have no quality problems,” said the company.  

HiPP claimed to have replaced the affected products from shelves abiding by the requirements of the CFS, emphasizing that customers who have already bought the products can contact them for replacement or refund.  

“Food quality and safety of infants are the primary consideration of us,” the company said.  

The affected product is HiPP Organic Mild Apple Juice (200ml) with a best-before date of October 31, 2023.  

The HiPP incident is the second incident involving imported food quality in August this year after the incident of Haagen-Dazs ice cream pulled from Hong Kong shelves since it was reported by the CFS as contaminated with pesticides.