The century-old Hong Kong brand Liu Ma Kee (廖孖記), which was recently hit by an official food safety alert over excessive Bacillus cereus bacteria in its bottled preserved bean curd, has announced that it will close down its business, according to Hong Kong media reports yesterday.
The shop in Yau Ma Tei district in Hong Kong has closed down, with the words “closed down” and “no longer in business” posted on the gate and on the front door, according to the reports.
The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety announced in a statement on Tuesday that a batch of bottled preserved bean curd was found to contain an excessive amount of Bacillus cereus – 1,300,000 per gram – which exceeded the legally permitted maximum amount in line with Hong Kong health standards, and the maximum level of Bacillus cereus in food must not exceed 100,000 per gram.
The problematic preserved bean curd was also sold in Macau.
The Macau Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) said in a statement on Wednesday that it has ordered shops to stop selling the company’s bottled preserved bean curd that weighs 255 grams and expires on August 7 next year. It urged consumers not to eat it. The IAM statement came after the bureau had received a report about the issue from the Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety on Tuesday
Founded in 1905, Liu Ma Kee is a famous brand in Hong Kong with a history of more than a century. Over the years, Liu Ma Kee had always made fermented bean curd in the old-fashioned way. The old shop used stone mills to grind the beans and stir-fry the soya bean paste in-house, with meticulous workmanship in souring, pressing and fermentation, according to the Hong Kong media reports.
The Liu brothers started out selling soya bean products in the Kwun Chung market in Hong Kong. After World War II, the second generation’s eldest son upgraded the family business and specialised in the production of fermented bean curd, opening up overseas markets and exporting their product to the US, Canada and Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s, according to yesterday’s reports.
This undated file photo downloaded from the online shopping platform Shopee on Wednesday shows the Hong Kong-origin bottled preserved bean curd product that was found to contain excessive Bacillus cereus.
