Australian consumers anxiously called supermarket stores earlier this week after a current affairs television programme claimed that imported honey and prawns were contaminated with carcinogenic antibiotics.
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Seven Network’s Today Tonight claimed that imported honey and prawns contained unsafe residue levels of the cancer-causing antibiotic nitrofuran, reported the Australian Associated Press.
Spokespersons for supermarket retailers Coles Myer and Woolworths said that many consumers had called because they were concerned about what they had seen on the programme and wanted to know if the information was accurate.
However, Dr Bob Boyd, chief medical adviser for food safety regulator FSANZ, said tests showed that the levels of nitrofurans in honey and prawns were so low that at least 400,000 times the amount found could be eaten safely.
He added that there was no scientific evidence to support the television show’s claims and that neither consumers nor retailers need take further action.
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By GlobalData
