Fecal Fish

I'll have the fish, with a side order of E. coli, please.

Sounds disgusting, doesn't it? If you've been buying your fresh fish from the Aberdeen wholesale seafood market, that's precisely what you've been getting.

Seven stalls in the unregulated market had tanks with up to seven times the allowable limits of E. coli bacteria. Inspectors believe some of the stall owners have been using water from the Aberdeen typhoon shelter.

Yuck. E. coli notwithstanding, that water is filthy. An E. coli count reveals the severity of fecal contamination in the water; counts as high as what was found in the seven stalls are dangerous. E. coli can cause abdominal cramps, vomiting, severe diarrhea and even death.

Inspectors also found cholera in a stall at the Aberdeen promenade's public car park, which happens to host the wholesale fish market. Forty per cent of the fish consumed in Hong Kong comes from 18 wholesalers at the promenade.

Now that the E. coli has hit the fan, the government is pushing to have the stalls operate under the control of the independently-operated Fish Marketing Organisation, which is financed by the government. They'll be responsible for making certain the stall owners use uncontaminated sea water in their tanks.

No one wants to eat seafood that's been swimming in the toilet.

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