Raids target stalls selling chilled pork as fresh meat

Officials raided meat stalls suspected of selling chilled pork as fresh pork and seized more than a tonne of meat in Tsuen Wan yesterday.

Fifty officials from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department raided seven pork stalls near Chuen Lung Street, taking samples and checking licences and records.

They seized 440kg of fresh and chilled pork from at least two stalls. Another 680kg of meat was taken from a stall without a licence to sell frozen or chilled pork.

Officials have not yet confirmed whether the seized pork was illegally imported. Testing of the samples will take two weeks.

Tsuen Wan district environmental hygiene supervisor Tsui Hing-yin said his department had received complaints about chilled pork in Tsuen Wan two weeks ago.

He said that with fresh pork selling at a higher price than chilled pork, stall operators might sell chilled pork as fresh meat for higher profits. The department issued six warnings to four of the stalls and may cancel the licence of one stall.