‘Whale curry’ taken off Hong Kong grocery store shelves as conservation group warns illegal meat could be tainted

A Hong Kong grocery store has withdrawn illegal and potentially contaminated whale meat from its shelves after customers who saw cans labelled “whale curry” for sale complained. The 759 Store chain apologised for selling the product after it was found at a store in Tuen Mun and said they had only imported a small shipment.

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Whale curry on sale at a 759 Store shop in Hong Kong. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 10:15am, 21 Aug 2015Updated: 5:52pm, 21 Aug 2015

A Hong Kong grocery store has withdrawn illegal and potentially contaminated whale meat from its shelves after customers who saw cans labelled “whale curry” for sale complained.

The 759 Store chain apologised for selling the product after it was found at a store in Tuen Mun and said they had only imported a small shipment.

A spokeswoman for the chain said the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation department had confiscated all the illegal products.

Gary Stokes, director of conservation group Sea Shepherd Asia, told the South China Morning Post he would be pursuing Hong Kong authorities to prosecute the grocery chain.

Stokes said it was not clear how the meat, labelled as fin whale, had entered Hong Kong in the first place.

The meat was labelled as fin whale. Photo: SCMP Pictures

“How did it get into Hong Kong?” he said, noting that the fin whale is listed as a “most endangered” species by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species.

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