Bean curd row continues to heat up

Eunice Lam

Food-safety authorities have denied targeting a renowned family-run fermented bean curd brand, saying they only gave hygiene advice and "did not teach" the nearly 120-year-old shop how to prepare its products.

The Centre for Food Safety said its officers had found that Liu Ma Kee did not produce fermented bean curd, but only repackaged it after adding seasoning.

It added the processing was done somewhere where dust covered fans and air conditioners, and that one of the seasonings - rose wine - was stored in an open plastic bucket at room temperature for over three days.

During the center's press conference, acting controller Jeff Lee Pui-man, said: "On the day of our inspection [on July 4], the factory did not produce any of its fermented bean curd. The white fermented bean curd was supplied by another soybean factory via a local trading company."

Lee said the factory, according to the company's representatives, only added rose wine and other seasonings to the bean curd.

Lee also denied Liu Ma Kee's claim that the center's staff tried teaching them how to make fermented bean curd.

"You wouldn't believe us if we taught them how to make fermented bean curd, and we can't teach a 100-year-old shop how to make fermented bean curd," Lee said. "We just gave hygiene advice and improvement measures according to the hygiene condition of the factory."

The center said it had tested 23 fermented bean curd samples from Liu Ma Kee in the past three-and-a-half years, and only four turned out to be unsatisfactory. The center believed it was only a certain batch that was contaminated.

Liu Ma Kee's two branches in Yau Ma Tei and Sai Ying Pun shut down on Thursday after the center found excessive bacteria in its products earlier this month.

Liu Ma Kee had scheduled a press conference today to explain more, but it was canceled after the center's briefing on Saturday.

Fourth-generation owner Jay Liu Fong-yip told local media he will talk on a radio program this morning. He said the manufacturing process revealed by the center on Saturday had been "a secret in the fermented bean curd industry in Hong Kong."

Kenneth Lee Fung-nin, owner of local food supplier Tung Tai Provisions, said there were not many brands in Hong Kong that make their bean curd.

Lee believed Liu Ma Kee was trying to strike a balance between food safety and preserving the original taste by importing preserved bean curd from other factories and adding its own seasoning.

He said it was "a pity" that the skills of making many of the traditional soybean products had been lost and suggested the government consider helping some old stores and shops to rebrand to improve their business.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com