SINGAPORE – The former owner of a steamboat restaurant in Beach Road has pleaded guilty to illegally storing nearly 20,000kg of meat and seafood products, including more than 1,000kg of expired products.

The expired food included mouldy salmon and lobster meat eight years past its expiry date.

On Wednesday, Tan Poh Gwee, who had traded as frozen product supplier Ed’s Frozen Enterprise, admitted to two charges of flouting the Wholesome Meat and Fish Act.

Another charge under the Wholesome Meat and Fish (Transportation of Meat Products) Rules – for transporting meat products from Enterprise One in Kaki Bukit Road in an unclean vehicle that did not have a working refrigeration compartment and contained live cockroaches – was taken into consideration.

Tan is also the former owner of Chong Qing (Origin) Steamboat in Beach Road, Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported. The restaurant made headlines in 2022 when a man slashed one of its employees repeatedly outside the eatery.

Shin Min reported on Thursday that the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) discovered in July 2021 that Tan did not use a cold store licence after receiving public feedback that food he sold via live-streaming was not fresh.

At that time, he was notified that he needed a licence to continue running a cold store.

A surprise check by the authorities in August 2021 found that Tan had yet to apply for a licence and was unlawfully storing about 19,483kg of seafood and meat products, according to Shin Min.

The meat products were stored in unsealed bags and placed on the ground.

More than 1,000kg of food was found to have expired, including slipper lobster meat that expired in June 2013, mouldy salmon and squid products.

Tan told the court that he had applied for a licence but could not get it before SFA’s check in August 2021, Shin Min reported.

He also said he had accumulated unsold food and was unable to pay rent, which has led him to fall into bankruptcy.

Tan’s lawyer said during the Covid-19 circuit breaker in 2020, Tan had to close his businesses and accumulated large quantities of unsold meat and seafood products.

When businesses were allowed to reopen, Tan discovered that the products had expired and would have disposed of them, his lawyer said.

The lawyer added that the refrigerated truck had not been used for 1½ years and should not be used as a reason to increase the penalties he faces.

The prosecutor argued that after circuit breaker restrictions were lifted, Tan could have arranged with a cold storage service provider to store the seafood and meat products properly.

The prosecutor added that while there was no evidence that people had suffered from food poisoning from consuming the products, they were still harmful and Tan should be given a deterrent sentence.

Tan is due to be sentenced on March 22.