No tainted oil in BreakTalk here

No tainted oil in BreakTalk here

SINGAPORE - Local bakery chain BreadTalk said its stores here do not use the tainted cooking oil in a scandal that has rocked food manufacturers and restaurants in Hong Kong.

Two of the company's Hong Kong outlets were among a list of 300 businesses found by the Environmental Hygiene Department of Hong Kong to be using lard oil blended with "gutter" oil - so called because it is made of recycled waste oil.

The oil was supplied to the businesses by Taiwanese company Chang Guann, whose chairman was detained over the scandal on Saturday.

Hundreds of bakeries and eateries in Taiwan and Hong Kong had to pull products off their shelves. Hong Kong has banned the import, sale and supply of all lard and lard products made after March 1 by Chang Guann, the South China Morning Post reported.

A spokesman for BreadTalk said yesterday that the tainted pork lard was used only in their polo buns in the Hong Kong outlets.

"We immediately ceased the usage of the affected ingredient from Sept 7 and no longer use any pork lard products from Taiwan," said the spokesman, adding that its Singapore outlets do not use pork lard products from Taiwan.

Last week, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority assured consumers that food items imported from both Taiwan and Hong Kong and sold here were safe for consumption.


This article was first published on September 16, 2014.
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