Food safety scares shoot up canned food sales
By Eddie Luk (HK Edition)
Updated: 2005-09-22 07:30

The recent food scares have driven people to eat more canned food, especially beef and poultry products.

AC Nielsen surveyed 1,500 Hong Kong households to study the changes in their grocery shopping habits.

The study was conducted from July 25 to August 28, during which pig-borne disease Streptococcus suis broke out in Sichuan and suspected carcinogen malachite green was found in some freshwater fish imported from the mainland.

The survey showed families, particularly those with children and young wives, purchased less pork and freshwater fish - the two staple diets of Hongkongers.

The average daily family spending on pork fell by 16 per cent in early August, compared with the same period last year, with pork sales sliding by 25 per cent. The fall in the average daily family spending on freshwater fish, however, was less (3 per cent in early August) but its sales dropped by a whopping 80 per cent.

AC Nielsen Consumer Panel Service Associate Director Eva Ng said yesterday: "Sales of canned food and poultry have risen sharply because they have become households' favourite, thanks to the health scares. Families with children and young housewives are tending to avoid eating pork, preferring to dine out."

(HK Edition 09/22/2005 page2)