2014-09-09
HKT 17:16
A leading local fast food chain, Cafe de Coral, and a supplier of pork fat to the company have given conflicting accounts about whether they've used products from a Taiwanese firm at the centre of the current "gutter oil" scandal.
The lard in question was not the one recently identified by the Taiwanese authorities as being contaminated.
The type of refined lard has not been confirmed as being tainted, but the Centre for Food Safety here has ordered a recall as a precaution.
Cafe de Coral said it made sauce for western-style food and prepared spring onions in its bakery chain, 85 Degrees, using lard from supplier Lam Soon -- who it said had mixed in pork fat from the Kaohsiung-based Chang Guann without the restaurant chain's knowledge.
But Lam Soon denied that this was the case, saying that although it had purchased refined lard from the Taiwanese company in February, it had never done any mixing.
Cafe de Coral, meanwhile, said it no longer had any remaining stock of the lard from Lam Soon, but would send samples from the Group's various food chains for laboratory tests. It also said it reserved the right to take legal action against suppliers.
The authorities in Taiwan have ordered Chang Guann to take back all of its "Chuan Tung" lard oil products, following reports that it blended illegally produced "gutter oil" -- made from recycled kitchen waste
-- with new lard.
Here in Hong Kong Maxim's pineapple buns and curry dumplings from the Taiwanese firm Baifang Yunji have been pulled from the shelves over suspicions that the products contained tainted oil.
http://m.rthk.hk/news/20140909/1035911.htm
