Six restaurants were found supplying short weight seafood to consumers in the first 11 months of this year. Selling goods by weight which is less than their net weight is an offence under the Weights and Measures Ordinance.
Two of the restaurant owners were fined $3,000 and $4,000 respectively in April this year after pleading guilty to supplying seafood of short weight. The other four restaurant owners will be prosecuted shortly.
Officers of the Customs and Excise Department posing as customers ordered seafood at various restaurants in Wan Chai, Jordan, Tokwawan, Sai Kung, and Tuen Mun on several occasions this year.
After the officers were informed of the purported weight of the ordered seafood, including crabs, lobsters and fishes at the six restaurants, they revealed their identities and checked the net weight of the seafood with electronic scales. Officers found that it was short of the purported weight.
In subsequent examinations by the Government Laboratory, discrepancies were found between the net weight and the purported weight of the seafood ranging from 21 per cent to 60 per cent.
A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department today (December 1) said that Customs officers would continue to take stringent enforcement actions against short weight activities to protect consumer interests and to uphold a fair trading environment.
Under the Weights and Measures Ordinance, any person who in the course of trade supplies goods to another person by weight or measure, should supply the goods in net weight or net measure. Any shortage of quantity purporting to be supplied is an offence. The maximum penalty is a fine of $10,000.
Ends/Monday, December 1, 2008
