Restaurant manager and food wholesaler convicted of supplying food with false trade description

Date: 07/03/2019

A manager of a restaurant and a food wholesaler were convicted and fined $4,000 and $6,000 respectively today (March 7) at Tuen Mun Magistrates' Courts for supplying food to which a false trade description was applied, in contravention of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO).

Hong Kong Customs earlier received information and conducted a test-buy operation at a restaurant in Tuen Mun for a dish of baked grouper rice with cheese.

Upon examination by the Government Laboratory, it was confirmed that the fish fillets of the dish were catfish, different from what had been declared.

Further investigation revealed that the food wholesaler made a false claim to the restaurant manager and claimed the catfish fillets sold were sole fish fillets. The restaurant manager produced a dish using the batch of fish fillets and falsely claimed it was grouper rice.

Customs reminds traders to comply with the requirements of the TDO and consumers to procure products at reputable shops.

Under the TDO, any person who supplies goods with a false trade description in the course of trade or business, or is in possession of any goods for sale with a false trade description, commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.

Members of the public may report any suspected violations of the TDO to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

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