Chinese restaurant in Invercargill takes meal made with 'pet food' off the menu

The Hong Kong restaurant in Esk St, Invercargill.

A Chinese restaurant in Invercargill which was found to be serving up cooked "pet food" says it has taken the dish off the menu.

Restaurant owner Lisa Wang told Stuff the traditional Chinese meal has now been removed from the menu and she will only cook it at home for herself and her family.

Wang had previously confirmed to the Otago Daily Times it had been selling customers "pet food" labelled "not for human consumption" when it was requested.

The ingredient was part of a Chinese dish known as tuo gu ji zhua, a popular meal in China where the bones of chicken feet are taken out and the meat and skin is eaten.

She explained she only ever sold the dish to Chinese customers when it was asked for, and they were planning on making it for themselves.

"In Invercargill there aren't too many Chinese shops, and they really want to have this and tell us to get them if we can," she said.

She believed the dish was edible despite the ingredient being labelled not for human consumption.

This contradicts what she told Invercargill City Council's environmental health team.

Senior environmental health officer Ann Thompson said it was alerted to a claim made on social media by a concerned resident - who had spotted boxes labelled "pet food" outside the restaurant.

A woman in Invercargill became concerned when she discovered a box in a restaurant's recycling labelled "not fit for human consumption". Photo / Laura Smith

Thompson visited the restaurant yesterday.

"The operators have made it clear that the items labelled as 'pet food' were for personal use only, and not provided to customers, nor offered on their menu," she said.

"We reminded the operator that, as per their food control plan, the only food that should be stored and prepared on site is food which is for sale to customers."

Thompson said they did not find any other items of concern, and when the Hong Kong restaurant's last verification was undertaken in December 2018 it received an "acceptable" assessment.

There had been no complaints in the past 12 months and she said verifications resulted in either an "acceptable" or "not acceptable" assessment.

Duty manager James Wang told the Otago Daily Times on Wednesday it was also used in another dish. "It's used in a cold, spicy dish - in China it's popular, but only Chinese here eat it."

Wang said she believed if the customers knew where it had come from and knew it was marked as pet food, they would still eat it.