Chengdu hot pot restaurant caught recycling peppers from trash
Staff Reporter 2012-12-25 14:00
A staff member at the restaurant picks chili peppers from leftovers to reuse. (Internet photo)
A series of astonishing videos showing a well-known spicy hot pot restaurant in Chengdu recycling used red chili peppers from the trash can has been sent to the Chinese-language Guangzhou Daily by a former employee of the restaurant.
In the videos, a worker at Hong Kee Spicy Pot Shuangqiaozi Carrefour restaurant in the Sichuan capital is seen picking the hot chilis from a trash can filled with leftovers and waste paper and placing them in a clean stainless steel barrel to be used again. "I want to disclose the hidden actions of the restaurant and advise people to have their leftovers packed up to take away so they cannot be reused. The person who provided the footage told the newspaper that she had captured it one week before she left the restaurant.
On Sunday, the Jinjiang District Food and Drug Administration went to visit the restaurant for a surprise investigation and asked the management to provide evidence of what happens to kitchen waste. Hung Kee Spicy Pot denied entry to the investigators and the administration say they will continue their probe through the existing clues.
Sichuan style spicy hot pot generally needs at least 10 dried hot red chilis. "The restaurant recycled the chilis from the leftovers, the chilis can be recycled twice, more than that and they will have lost their flavor," the former employee said.
The woman said she had worked for several restaurants but had never seen any restaurant act in this way. "It was really disgusting, I made these videos to warn people to have their leftovers packed up, don't let the restaurant take advantage."
