Hong Kong authorities revoke licences of 2 shops for selling frozen meat as fresh

Hong Kong’s food hygiene authorities have revoked the licences of two food shops found selling frozen beef as fresh meat during a raid this week.

Koo Yin-chun, senior health inspector in environmental hygiene, said on Thursday that one shop in her district of Sai Kung and another in Kwai Tsing were found to have sold chilled or frozen beef as fresh meat during inspections over two days.

Officers confiscated and destroyed 180kg (397lbs) of suspected frozen beef from the two shops, while another 123kg of pre-packaged meat was taken away for investigation, she added.

“Selling chilled or frozen meat as fresh meat is a poor sales tactic that infringes upon consumers’ rights. It will also pose a food safety risk, and is a serious violation of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s licence requirements,” Koo said.

The health inspector warned that shops found to be selling frozen meat fraudulently would have their licences revoked, while permit holders, owners and partners would be banned from running fresh food shops in the same location.

A fresh provision shop licence is granted to establishments selling fresh, chilled or frozen meat, fish or poultry, with the exception of hawkers and market stalls.