Toxic lard deaths spur hygiene blitz
Hygiene inspectors will increase checks on unlicensed lard factories amid fears industrial lard may be being used in food preparation.
The move follows reports that industrial lard imported from Hong Kong killed three people and put hundreds more in hospital last week when it was used for cooking in Jiangxi province.
Provisional Urban Councillor Wong Kwok-hing said he feared some of the toxic lard could be consumed locally.
'We are especially concerned about illegal factories as we don't know how they produce food, who their consumers are and whether they are up to hygiene standards.
'The two municipal services departments should check all the unlicensed food premises and immediately close those making lard illegally,' he said.
A Regional Services Department spokesman said its hygiene inspectors had been told to step up monitoring of any illegal factories.
'We are investigating reports about unlicensed factories in the New Territories,' he said.
There is one edible lard factory in Western and four factories producing it for industrial use in the New Territories. All are licensed and checked every two weeks.
Wu Chak, former chairman of the Cake, Bakeries and Candies Union, said it was unlikely toxic lard would be consumed locally although its edible form was still used by some bakeries and biscuit firms.
'Most of the bakeries in Hong Kong are using higher quality imported lard from Japan and the Netherlands, not the locally produced variety.' It was easy to tell the difference as lower quality lard tended to have a strong smell, he said.
A Department of Health spokesman said it did not make special checks on lard as the product was seldom available at retail markets.
Shenzhen police said on Saturday that a firm imported about 5,000 barrels of industrial lard from Hong Kong. Six people have so far been detained in Shenzhen in connection with sales of the toxic lard.
