Chain 'failed Hong Kong citizens'
Supermarket chain ParknShop was fined HK$45,000 yesterday for selling oilfish labelled as cod. A magistrate said it had 'failed the Hong Kong citizens'.
Magistrate Ernest Lin Kam-hung told Kowloon City Court that ParknShop, as one of the city's largest supermarket chains, had committed 'very serious' offences in selling, without warning labels, a product that was 'generally not good for human consumption'.
He said he wanted to send out a deterrent message but the penalties available to him did not reflect the seriousness of such offences.
Oilfish is not poisonous but contains waxy deposits some people cannot digest.
'It is unclear if it is a commercial calculation or an act of an individual employee,' the magistrate said.
Still, he condemned the supermarket chain for failing to ensure its products were safe and its labelling accurate. He noted that it was unclear how much oilfish the chain had sold, how many people were affected and how much profit the chain made from the sales.