The Centre for Food Safety tested 10,200 food samples in May and June - with an overall pass rate of 99.8%. Only 19 samples failed the tests.

The centre's Assistant Director (Food Surveillance & Control) Dr Miranda Lee said most of the breaches were not serious and would not pose immediate health risks.

Among the unsatisfactory cases, three were vegetables or fruits; five were meat or poultry; one was a frozen confection, three were cereals, grains or cereal products; and seven were other food commodities.

Dr Lee said pesticide and metallic contamination levels of three samples of vegetables and fruits - a green salad, a Chinese parsley and a spinach - exceeded the legal limit. Five meat and poultry samples contained non-permitted drug residues and food additives.

A soft ice-cream sample was found to contain excessive coliform organisms while two instant noodle samples and a fried noodle sample had excessive micro-organisms or non-permitted chemicals.

Snacks deemed safe

Apart from one unsatisfactory fried fritter sample, there were six unsatisfactory commodities samples.

Clostridium perfringens were present in two rice samples while another rice sample and a walnut dessert sample had Bacillus cereus. A prickly ash sample and a bun sample were found to contain non-permitted chemicals.