Row over Liu Ma Kee’s use of imported bean curd exposes legal loophole: Hong Kong experts
- Lawyers call for review of city’s ‘outdated’ food safety laws and question loose enforcement for some in-house manufactured food items
Lawyers have now called for a review of the city’s “outdated” food safety rules after products made by long-established family firm Liu Ma Kee using bean curd from mainland China were found to have high levels of Bacillus cereus, which can cause vomiting and diarrhoea.
Hong Kong customs said it had already received complaints about the place of origin of the tofu and that containers were not required to show where the product came from under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.
Nonetheless, officials insisted they had placed Liu Ma Kee products under scrutiny.
The Centre for Food Safety, the Customs and Excise Department and the Consumer Council are responsible for food standards in Hong Kong.
Jay Liu Fong-yip, the grandson of the family that owns Liu Ma Kee, admitted on Monday that the white fermented bean curd it used had not been produced by the company.
In fact, it had for 30 years been importing tofu from the mainland and preparing and packaging the product in the city before selling it, he said.