Lee Kum Kee
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Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
. Its primary brand, Lee Kum Kee is well known throughout China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and the Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
community. Lee Kum Kee was named Most Popular Brand On-line at the 2004 Hong Kong Top Brand Awards
Hong Kong Top Brand Awards
Hong Kong Top Brand Awards is a competition held in the Hong Kong Products Expo.-Objectives:...
.
History
The founder, Lee Kum Sheung , is credited with having invented oyster sauceOyster sauce
Oyster sauce describes a number of sauces made by cooking oysters. The most common in modern use is a viscous dark brown condiment made from sugar, salt and water thickened with cornstarch, flavoured with a little oyster essence or extract and some versions may be darkened with caramel, though high...
in Nanshui, Zhuhai
Zhuhai
Zhuhai is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in the Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the northwest, Zhongshan to the north, and Macau to the south. Zhuhai was one of the original Special Economic Zones...
, Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
. He formed the Lee Kum Kee company in 1888 to market what became a staple sauce, seasoning
Seasoning
Seasoning is the process of imparting flavor to, or improving the flavor of, food.- General meaning :Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings"...
and condiment in Cantonese
Cantonese cuisine
Cantonese cuisine comes from Guangdong Province in southern China and is one of 8 superdivisions of Chinese cuisine. Its prominence outside China is due to the great numbers of early emigrants from Guangdong. Cantonese chefs are highly sought after throughout the country...
and southern Chinese cuisine.
Lee Kum Sheung made his early living by running a tiny eatery that sold cooked oysters. One day, he was cooking oyster as usual, but he lost track of time until he smelt a strong aroma. Lifting the lid of the pot, he noticed that the normally clear oyster soup had turned into a thick, brownish sauce which astonished him with an unparalleled aroma and incredibly delicious taste. He started to sell this new invention which turned out to be very popular. So in 1888, he formed Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce House to mass produce oyster sauce for sale.
Lee Kum Kee currently produces a number of Chinese-style sauces, including soy sauce
Soy sauce
Soy sauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt...
, hoisin sauce
Hoisin sauce
Hoisin sauce, or haixian sauce, is a Chinese dipping sauce. The word hoisin is a romanization of the Chinese word for seafood "" as pronounced in Cantonese.-Ingredients:...
, XO sauce
XO sauce
XO sauce is a spicy seafood sauce used in Chinese cuisines especially in southern China such as Guangdong province and Hong Kong.-History:Developed in the 1980s in Hong Kong for Cantonese cuisine, it is made of roughly chopped dried seafoods including scallops, dried fish and shrimp and cooked with...
, one-step recipe sauce, chili product, cooking ingredients, and dipping sauce. The company is based in Hong Kong but its products are marketed throughout China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and in many overseas markets, including North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Contamination
In June 2001, Britain's Food Standards AgencyFood Standards Agency
The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food throughout the United Kingdom and is led by a board appointed to act in the public interest...
(FSA) identified various brands of Chinese and Southeast Asian sauces, including Lee Kum Kee products, with known carcinogens 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP (1,3-dichloropropane-2-ol) contamination at levels hundreds of times higher than those deemed safe by the UK and European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. However, Lee Kum Kee was not singled out, and this was an industry-wide problem, which was supposedly dealt with in 2001. Tests show that Lee Kum Kee products imported into Europe since 2001 comply with the proposed EU limit for 3-MCPD by modification of manufacturing techniques. What is not verified are products imported or consumed in other regions. For example, soy sauces (not manufactured by Lee Kum Kee) tested with 18,000 times the European limit for 3-MCPD in the 2007 Vietnam food scare
2007 Vietnam food scare
The 2007 Vietnam food scare was a food scandal, which exposed contaminated food. Among the issues were formaldehyde in noodles of the national dish, Phở, banned pesticides in vegetables and fruit, and toxic soy sauce.-External links:* * * Jakarta Post...
, rising from 3,000 times the limit after the 2000 soy sauce scandal.
In July 2001, FSA issued another statement clearing Lee Kum Kee's name after the company produced laboratory certificates from accredited, reputable laboratories. These certificates shows that Lee Kum Kee products now comply with the proposed EU limit for 3-MCPD.
1,3-DCP has no standard to meet.
Headquarters
LKK's former Hong Kong headquarters on Dai Shing Street was sold in 2007 and is now home to Asia Television LimitedAsia Television Limited
Asia Television Limited is one of the two free-to-air television broadcasters in Hong Kong, the other being rival Television Broadcasts Limited . It launched in 1957 under the name Rediffusion Television as the first television station in Hong Kong...
. The company moved down the street to a new location on Dai Fat Street. The company recently opened a new manufacturing facility in Industry California.
Lee Kum Kee never moved the HQ, it has all along located in Dai Fat Street.