Video of herbal shop apparently removing mould from jelly ‘is a fake’
Centre of Food Safety looks into mainland video smearing reputation of Hoi Tin Tong after popular herbal chain makes police report
The city's food-quality watchdog will look into a mainland video clip purporting to show an employee at a popular herbal chain store cleaning off mould-covered jelly before selling it as fresh.
The Centre for Food Safety announced its investigation yesterday after Hoi Tin Tong filed a police report over the "misleading" video, which was shown on a prime-time Guangdong television programme on Tuesday night and later circulated online.
Video: Controversial clip allegedly showing mould-covered jelly being prepared for sale.
Former shareholder Choi Kwok-keung said he had supplied the video to the TV station and claimed it showed why he had severed his connection with the company.
He now works for a rival producer of herbal jelly on the mainland. Yesterday, he insisted the footage was genuine.
But Hoi Tin Tong director Ng Yiu-ming said the video was faked and misleading. "It was not even filmed inside any of our shops," he told a press conference in Guangzhou. "We don't carry steel trays as shown in the clip."