Customs today announced it detected 11 short-weight food cases involving restaurants, seafood stalls, and fruit retailers.

Speaking at a press conference, Customs Consumer Protection Bureau Deputy Head (Weights & Measures) Nelson Lam said 17 restaurants, 24 seafood stalls and 56 fruit retail shops were checked between August 19 and September 6.

Among the 11 cases, four of them involved restaurants, another four involved seafood stalls, and two cases involved fruit retail shops. One case involving pre-packed frozen pork was also handled.

Mr Lam said customs officers conducted a test-buy operation at a seafood restaurant in To Kwa Wan and bought a lobster with a claimed weight of 50 taels for stay-in consumption.

A subsequent check revealed that the lobster was 16.9 taels short-weighted, 33.8% less than the declared weight.  

Mr Lam called on consumers to patronise shops with a good reputation and pay attention to the scale reading during transactions.

“If they cannot see the scale reading, they should ask the shop to give them the scale reading. If they suspect there are short weights in the goods, they can use the public scale installed in the market to reconfirm the weight of the goods.

“If they suspect there is a contravention of the Weights & Measures Ordinance, they can report it to the Customs & Excise Department for further follow-up action.”