Starbucks and 7-Eleven in Hong Kong drawn into ‘gutter oil’ scandal
More big chains have been drawn into the scandal over the use of old or tainted cooking oil in Hong Kong, as it emerged on Monday that cakes made with 'gutter oil' had been sold by 7-Eleven, Starbucks and Café Express among others.
More big chains have been drawn into the scandal over the use of old or tainted cooking oil in Hong Kong, as it emerged on Monday that cakes made with “gutter oil” had been sold by 7-Eleven, Starbucks and Café Express among others.
Four importers in Hong Kong have been found to have bought oil from Chang Guann, the Taiwan-based supplier accused of buying at least 240 tonnes of gutter oil – recycled from kitchen waste, by-products from leather processing plants and offal from slaughterhouses – from an unlicensed factory.
The Hong Kong importers are Dah Chong Hong, Synergy Foods, Angliss Hong Kong Food Service and Urban Food.
On Monday, Maxim’s Group confirmed it had been using gutter oil supplied by Urban Food to make some 9,000 pineapple buns a day for the last three years.
About 85 per cent of the buns had then been supplied to its Maxim’s Cakes outlets and to the convenience chain 7-Eleven. Another 15 per cent had been supplied to popular shops including Arome Bakery, the Café Express shop in Central MTR and two Starbucks shops – one on Duddell Street in Central and the other on Sai Yee Street in Mong Kok.
Maxim’s said it purchased a total of some 34 tonnes of oil from Urban Food.