Hong Kong residents will be thinking twice about eating mooncakes, pineapple buns, and rice dumplings - popular treats during this Mid-Autumn Festival in China - after authorities started investigating how tainted lard from Taiwan could have made its way into the Hong Kong food chain.

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The Centre for Food and Safety (CFS) says at least four lard importers in Hong Kong have bought tons of oil from Taiwanese oil manufacturer Chang Guann  for use in food manufacture - mostly in bakeries and processed-meat shops.

Chang Guann has been found to be selling "gutter oil," produced from recycled kitchen oil - sourced from grease traps and deep fryers - meat offal from slaughter houses, and leather processing plants. Chang Guann admitted they had bought about 264 tons of the oil and resold it to hundreds of restaurants and food companies, including one that supplies to Maxim's, a popular Hong Kong bakery, which makes mooncakes and other pastries.

Mooncakes and wrapped in dough that have substantial amounts of lard. The bakery admitted having sold almost a million pineapple buns over the last three years at its stores and other outlets including 7-Eleven and a couple of Hong Kong Starbucks outlets. According to the South China Morning Post, Maxim's has pulled all its pineapple buns from the market, and has decided to source its lard instead from Holland.

The gutter oil scandal emerged on September 1 when police raided Chang Guann and its source factory in Taiwan and arrested six people, including the owner of an animal-feed company that also used the same gutter oil for its pig feed products.

Hong kong authorities said at least four companies in the city - Dah Chong Hong, Angliss Hong Kong Food Service, Synergy Foods and Urban Food - have bought lard from Chang Guann.

Although Maxim's has said they did not use the lard from Chang Guann in making their mooncakes, the CFS is conducting tests on the mooncakes anyway and taking samples of a number of products - bread, cookies, almond strips - which used lard from the four oil importers. 

CFS reportedly has found no evidence of tainted lard being used in anything other than Maxim's pineapple buns.

In Taiwan, Black Bridge Food Group released a statement to Taiwanese and Hong Kong authorities that tainted oil was used in making 1,100 rice dumplings that were sent to Hong Kong outlets between May and June this year. Black Bridge said Hong Kong residents can bring receipts dated between May 17 and June 30 for an exchange of dumplings at the company's shops. There will be no refunds, however.

Health authorities warn that gutter oil can cause gastrointestinal distress and pose serious health risks, depending on its trace contaminants, which can include heavy metals and carcinogenic toxins. 

TagsHong Kong, Mooncake Festival, Maxim's, Gutter Oil