Popular restaurant fined for serving banned product

Shanghai's market watchdog said the operator of Kwei Mun Lung, a popular Hangzhou-style chain restaurant, has been slapped with a hefty fine of 130,000 yuan (US$19,162) for serving dishes with pufferfish liver.

One of the outlets of the chain restaurant inside the CapitaLand Hongkou Plaza, a shopping mall in Hongkou District, was found cooking pufferfish liver braised in brown sauce. The food materials were being supplied by a company in Taizhou, neighboring Jiangsu Province, since December, the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation.

In all, 6 kilograms of liver were purchased, and 3.7kg were consumed when the case was uncovered in March. The remaining liver and the restaurant's illegal profit, totaling nearly 3,000 yuan, have been confiscated.

Pufferfish can be lethal if improperly prepared and is banned under China's food safety law.