‘Whale curry’ taken off Hong Kong grocery store shelves as conservation group warns illegal meat could be tainted
PUBLISHED : Friday, 21 August, 2015, 10:10am
UPDATED : Friday, 21 August, 2015, 5:52pm
Ben Westcott
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Whale curry on sale at a 759 Store shop in Hong Kong. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A Hong Kong grocery store has withdrawn illegal and potentially contaminated whale meat from its shelves after customers who saw cans labelled “whale curry” for sale complained.
The 759 Store chain apologised for selling the product after it was found at a store in Tuen Mun and said they had only imported a small shipment.
A spokeswoman for the chain said the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation department had confiscated all the illegal products.
Gary Stokes, director of conservation group Sea Shepherd Asia, told the South China Morning Post he would be pursuing Hong Kong authorities to prosecute the grocery chain.
Stokes said it was not clear how the meat, labelled as fin whale, had entered Hong Kong in the first place.
The meat was labelled as fin whale. Photo: SCMP Pictures
“How did it get into Hong Kong?” he said, noting that the fin whale is listed as a “most endangered” species by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species.
Selling whale meat or whale products is banned in Hong Kong.
Stokes said in addition to the legality of the meat, he was also concerned about whether it could be dangerous to eat.
“A very large shipment that came into Japan from Norway of fin whale [was] deemed tainted for human consumption and now we find fin whale turning up in curries,” he said.
Fin whales are listed as a "most endangered" species by Cites. Photo: AP
Stokes said he had contacted Hong Kong authorities and asked them to test the meat.
“If it turns out they’ve turned it into curry and shipped it out to other countries, that’s not good,” he said.
The 759 Store spokeswoman said the meat had been bought by mistake due to a misunderstanding with a supplier in Japan.
However, she also said the meat had been deliberately placed in stores with a high number of Japanese customers.
Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has been contacted for comment.
