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Charmaine Mok

Liu Ma Kee, a fourth-generation business in Hong Kong’s Yau Ma Tei neighbourhood known for its fermented tofu products, has closed suddenly after almost 120 years.
It comes just over two weeks after health authorities issued an alert about a bottle of its fermented tofu that led the firm to withdraw a batch from sale.
Known as fuyu, fermented tofu is a traditional Chinese condiment made by processing and fermenting the soy product with salt, rice wine and flavourings.
The finished product has a distinctive pungent aroma and yielding texture that has been likened to ripe soft cheese, and it is an essential ingredient in traditional Cantonese dishes such as stir-fried water spinach, and lamb stew with bean curd sheets.

Liu Ma Kee featured in a Hong Kong Tourism Board campaign in 2021 to boost travel to the city by spotlighting heritage businesses and hidden gems. Jay Liu Fong-yip, part of the fourth generation of his family to run Liu Ma Kee, told the Post back then that he hoped the campaign would encourage more local customers to visit the shop.
On July 18, images of the long-standing store with its shutters down and with paper notices saying “closed” and “closed for business” were posted to social media.

On July 4, the Hong Kong government’s Centre for Food Safety published an alert warning that tests on a batch of bottled fermented bean curd taken from a Sai Ying Pun retailer had shown unsatisfactory levels of bacteria Bacillus cereus.
Test results had shown that the sample contained Bacillus cereus at a level of 130,000 per gram – the threshold for safe consumption is 100,000 per gram. The public was advised not to consume the affected batch, and the vendor was instructed to stop sales of it. Liu Ma Kee followed instructions to recall the affected batch.
Jay Liu’s mother, Mrs Liu, contacted Scoop, a Hong Kong television programme broadcast by TVB, to air her concerns following the investigation. It aired an episode in which she told how a representative of the Centre for Food Safety had visited Liu Ma Kee’s Yau Ma Tei store on July 3 to request a bottle of fermented bean curd for follow-up testing, as the sample taken from the Sai Ying Pun retailer did not have a clear best before date.

She claimed that the centre put out its alert about the fermented bean curd batch before the results of its tests came back, and that a member of the centre’s staff had told them on July 8 that tests on the sample from its store came back with a satisfactory result.
Mrs Liu told Scoop that since the centre issued its alert, customers had been coming in their droves to return purchases – even bottles that had already expired.
“Overnight, we were sent to hell. Customers no longer trust us,” she told its reporter. “What can I do, should I close down the store? I’d rather not continue any more.”

However, a subsequent report issued by the centre on July 16 announced that a new sample taken from a bottle of Liu Ma Kee fermented bean curd with a best-before date of August 7, 2025 was found to have a Bacillus cereus level of 1,300,000 per gram – 12 times the recommended level for safe consumption.
In a statement late in the evening of July 18, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department gave details of its inspection process. It said that during an inspection of Liu Ma Kee’s premises on July 4, “it was found that some of the raw materials were improperly stored and the hygiene condition of the packaging area was not up to standard, which increase [sic] the risk of food contamination”.
It also said that between 2021 and mid-July 2024, the Centre for Food Safety had collected under its food surveillance programme more than 140 preserved bean curd samples from 26 different brands, including 23 from Liu Ma Kee, for testing.


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Food and Drinks

‘We were sent to hell’ – Hong Kong fermented tofu shop nearly 120 years old shuts suddenly

Jay Liu Fong-yip (left) is the fourth generation of his family to work at Liu Ma Kee, a fermented tofu shop founded in 1905 in Hong Kong’s Yau Ma Tei neighbourhood. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

A bottle of Liu Ma Kee Limited preserved bean curd. Photo: Stanley Shin

Liu Ma Kee’s product is used in a variety of traditional Cantonese dishes. Photo: TVB Scoop

A photo posted by a Facebook user on July 18, 2024, shows Liu Ma Kee’s store shuttered with handwritten notes pasted up announcing its closure. Photo: Facebook

Mrs Liu, a member of the family that has run Liu Ma Kee for 119 years, in a still from a TVB Scoop episode in which she expressed her frustration at the way Hong Kong government food safety staff treated the business. Photo: TVB Scoop

Customs receives reports century-old Liu Ma Kee sources bean curd from outside Hong Kong

Liu Ma Kee shop in Jordan. The operator said the family business started importing fermented bean curd about 30 years ago. Photo: Elson Li

Jay Liu, the fourth-generation owner of Liu Ma Kee, has apologised to health authorities. Photo: Elson Li

What is natto? Just like durian, stinky tofu, the sticky soybean dish is loved or hated

Natto is widely consumed in Japan as a budget superfood, but the fermented soybeans’ pungent aroma and wildly sticky texture are not for everyone. Photo: Shutterstock

A natto course at Natto Sosaku Cuisine Natsumame, a natto-focused restaurant in Kyoto, Japan, by Naoko Natsumi. Photo: Instagram/@natsumame_

Natto is a cat the writer named after the sticky fermented soybeans because of the pattern on her belly. Photo: Charmaine Mok

Natto stirred into pasta in a recipe from Naoko Natsumi. Photo: Instagram/@natsumame_

Eric Räty at Arbor. He is often inspired by Japanese ingredients and techniques. Last year, he added a natto dessert to the menu. Photo: Arbor

A natto-infused sauce is used in Arbor’s fish main course. Photo: Arbor

Ice cream made with toasted natto and oat milk at Arbor. Photo: Arbor

Korean skincare brand Mediheal have a nattogum face mask for sale. Photo: Charmaine Mok

Why Chinese love fermented bean curd and even stinky tofu: it’s cheap, adds flavour to rice and congee, is a good source of protein, and lots more

Blocks of fermented bean curd are deep-fried to make 
stinky tofu at a streetside snack stall in Hong Kong. Fermented tofu is a staple of cuisines across China and the diaspora. Photo: SCMP

Most fermented bean curd is sold pre-packaged with old-fashioned labels. Photo: SCMP

A man fries stinky tofu on a Hong Kong street in 1984. Photo: SCMP

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Tate Dining’s Vicky Laudishes made with tofu produced by Kung Wo Tofu in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong, on June 26, 2020. 26JUN20 [FOOD FEATURES] SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Chinese Master Chef Kwong Wai Keung_1M.jpgPhoto: Chris Dwyer [FEATURES]

tofu in pumpkin soup, stuffed with egg and Shanghai cabbage 2.jpgPhoto: Chris Dwyer [FEATURES]

Chef Chan at Chili Fagara.Photo: Handout

chilled beancurd cream topped with ground biscuit.jpgPhoto: Chris Dwyer [FEATURES]

Chef Vicky Lau (L) of Tate Dining meets Renee So of the Kung Wo Tofu Factory, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong, on June 26, 2020. 26JUN20 [FOOD FEATURES] SCMP / Jonathan Wong

braised with mixed mushrooms.jpgPhoto: Chris Dwyer [FEATURES]

Tate Dining’s Vicky Lau (R) with Kung Wo Tofu’s So Sung-lin and his daughter Renee So, in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong, on June 26, 2020. 26JUN20 [FOOD FEATURES] SCMP / Jonathan Wong

A customer buys tofu products from the Kung Wo Beancurd Factory in Sham Shui Po, which has been in business since 1893. Photo: Jonathan Wong

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Liu Ma Kee in Yau Ma Tei shut without warning on July 18 following a public health alert over bacteria levels in a batch of fermented tofu


In business nearly 120 years, Liu Ma Kee closed almost overnight on July 18. Two weeks earlier, a public health alert about bacteria levels in a batch of its fermented tofu had led to a rush of product returns.
