‘Pet food’ dish dogs Invercargill restaurant

An Invercargill restaurant has been found to be dishing up meals with ingredients labelled as ‘‘pet food’’.

The owner of the Hong Kong Restaurant, in Esk St, confirmed that it had been selling some customers ‘‘pet food’’ marked ‘‘not fit for human consumption’’ on the food’s packaging, as part of a cultural dish.

The popular Chinese dish is called tuo gu ji zhua. The bones of chicken feet are removed and the meat and skin are eaten.

Speaking to Stuff, restaurant owner Lisa Wang said the dish would no longer be served to customers. She would just make the dish for herself and her family.

Wang, who has owned the restaurant for 12 years, told Stuff the chicken feet dish was popular in China, but not popular among the locals in Invercargill.

A spokesperson for New Zealand Food Safety said the authority was aware of the situation and was working with the Invercargill City Council.

In a statement, the spokesperson said: ‘‘There are rules in place for labelling. If a product is labelled as unfit for human consumption, it should not be sold to humans for their consumption.’’

There are a number of offence provisions that would enable officers to take enforcement action against this sort of activity if required, the spokesperson said.

‘‘However, if a consumer knows the product is labelled unfit for human consumption, but still chooses to consume it anyway in a private setting (not sold), the Food Act rules do not apply. We recommend people do not do this, as the food is not intended for humans and can make you sick.’’

A spokesperson for the Invercargill City Council said environmental health staff had spoken to restaurant staff.

On Wednesday, the council was made aware of a photo circulating on social media showing a box put out for recycling. Its label indicated the contents were pet food and not for human consumption.

Council staff visited the restaurant that day and spoke to the operators, who indicated the items labelled as pet food were for personal use and were not served to customers or offered on their menu.

Council staff reminded the operators that, as per their Food Control Plan, the only food that should be stored and prepared on site was food that was for resale.

Council staff inspected the premises, and did not find any further items of concern.

‘‘Given further information has come to light since council staff spoke with the business owner on Wednesday, our Environmental Health team will be contacting the operator again,’’ the spokesperson said in a statement.

The restaurant’s last inspection was in December, and it received an ‘‘acceptable’’ assessment. There had been no complaints in the past 12 months, the spokesperson said.

On TripAdvisor, Hong Kong Restaurant has a 3-star rating out of 38 reviews. On Google, it has a 3.5-star rating out of 85 reviews.

The last review left about four weeks ago on TripAdvisor said the ‘‘food was nice’’.